Gold prices tumbled in North American trading on Monday, as investors dumped safe-haven assets after French election results eased fears over the future of the euro zone.
Comex gold futures sank $18.50, or around 1.4%, to $1,270.64 a troy ounce by 8:05AM ET (12:05GMT). Meanwhile, spot gold was at $1,269.25, down 1.2%.
The yellow metal fell by as much as 1.8% earlier to a session low of $1,266.00, the weakest since April 11.
Also on the Comex, silver futures declined 10.2 cents, or about 0.6% to $17.83 a troy ounce, after earlier touching a one-month low of $17.55.
Results from the first round of the closely-watched French presidential election on Sunday showed centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen advancing to the second and final round on May 7.
Committed globalist Macron took about 23.8% of the vote, while Le Pen, who wants to take France out of the euro, took 21.5%, according to an official tally with 97.4% of ballots counted.
Macron is widely tipped to win the final vote, with opinion polls showing him comfortably beating Le Pen by more than 20 percentage points, reducing the risk of an anti-establishment shock in the final round.
The outcome boosted risk-sensitive assets, such as global equities, and sparked a sell-off in assets perceived as safe, such as the yen, bullion and U.S. Treasuries, which are often used as a hedge in times of political uncertainty.
Elsewhere in metals trading, platinum dropped 1.4% to $963.55, while palladium eased up 0.1% to $791.78 an ounce.
May copper futures added 0.4 cents to $2.555 a pound.
