Gold futures have lost about 5% or $80 in less than four hours, at the London trading session this afternoon.
Gold futures fell as low as $1,950 per ounce, $80 differential from its opening price of $2,030
This marks gold’s steepest daily decline in nearly five months, even as global stocks went bullish following news that Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine has obtained regulatory approval.
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The COVID-19 vaccine approval by Russia was met with some skepticism by experts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that a locally developed vaccine for COVID-19, Sputnik-V, has been given regulatory approval and is ready for use.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that the vaccine had “proven to be highly effective and safe”, with mass vaccination planned to start in October.
But health regulators elsewhere have cast doubts on the vaccine, as it has not yet gone through safety trials and Russia did not offer any scientific evidence of the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety.