Gold Falls for Second Straight Day on Institutional Sell-off and Strong Dollar

Even though gold futures plummeted for the second straight day, falling $27.50 for December delivery, they still managed to finish the week in positive territory, ending up by close to 3.1 percent. It settled at $859 on the Comex division of the NYMEX. It had went as high as $936.30 earlier in the session before plunging later in the day.

Part of the reason for the decline over the last two days has been institutional investors selling off their positions in order to secure needed cash.

The other obvious reason was the strength of the U.S. dollar, which has been putting downward pressure on the metal.