Gold Plummets as Brexit Poll Favoring ‘Remain’ Weakens Haven Appeal

Gold plummeted on Monday, during the Asian session as British polls showed “remain” is winning the UK EU referendum just days before the vote. The demand for haven assets has dropped as investors are less wary.

Bullion for immediate delivery fell as much as 1.1 percent to $1,284.91 an ounce before trading at $1,286.43 at 9:11 a.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. That pared this year’s gain to 21 percent.

Gold has benefited in the past three weeks amid concern that Britain’s voters may opt to leave the EU in the June 23 vote, with bullion rising to the highest level in almost two years. The poll from Survation for the Mail on Sunday newspaper showed 45 percent of people backed the “Remain” camp, while 42 percent supported “Leave.” Last week’s death of pro-Europe British lawmaker Jo Cox spurred a marked reduction in bets on a Brexit win.

“The poll shows the race is still too close to call, as there’s no strong support for either camp,” Yin Dan, an analyst at CITIC Futures Co., said in a note. “We’re still relatively optimistic about gold this week, but do not recommend chasing prices higher.”