Gold falls for 3rd day, ends near 3-1/2 month low

San Francisco (May 28)  Gold prices settled near a 3-1/2 month low on Wednesday as the dollar rallied and stock markets held near recent peaks, after a technical breakout the previous day saw the metal slide more than 2 percent.

Gold posted its biggest daily fall since mid-December on Tuesday after strong U.S. data helped send U.S. and German stocks to record highs, with losses accelerating as prices broke out of the narrow range they had held in for more than a month.

Spot gold initially took some support from a softer tone to European stocks on Wednesday, but later fell to its weakest since February 6 at $1,256.35. It was last at $1,259.80 an ounce, down 0.3 percent. Spot silver fell 11 cents to $$19.03, while platinum plummeted $11 to $1453.