Gold dropped for a second day as a rebound in stocks trimmed demand by investors seeking to protect their wealth against falling currencies and economic turmoil. Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as 2.6 percent to $1,827.57 an ounce, and last traded at $1,837.63 at 2:32 p.m. in Singapore, as the regional benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed for the first time in four days. Bullion dropped from a record $1,921.15 yesterday as the dollar advanced for a sixth day against a six-currency basket including the franc after the Swiss central bank set a ceiling on the exchange rate. Futures in New York lost as much as 2.9 percent to $1,818.20 an ounce, before trading at $1,846.70. The December- delivery contract, which touched an all-time high of $1,923.70 yesterday, plunged more than $30 in less than a minute at around 12:21 p.m. Singapore time, according to data on Bloomberg. “We’re seeing continued volatility but nothing out of the ordinary -- our systems are working as they should,” CME Group Inc.’s Singapore-based spokesman, Jeremy Hughes, wrote in an e- mailed response to questions about the sudden drop. “There was probably a large sell order placed after the double top emerged,” said Jonathan Barratt, a managing director of Commodity Broking Services Pty. A double top refers to the formation of an M-shaped trading pattern comprising the Aug. 23 high of $1,917.90 and yesterday’s peak of $1,923.70, a sign to some investors who study technical charts of a potential drop. That, in turn, could have triggered many stops, Barratt said. Traders place automatic buy and sell orders, known as stops, at predetermined prices to limit losses. Gold Pullback “We’re going to have pullbacks but there’s a lot of opportunity in gold today and it’s a bull market that will last many more years,” Robert Lutts, president of Cabot Money Management, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Gold, up 30 percent this year, is still poised for an 11th year of gains, the longest rally since at least 1920 in London, as investors seek to protect their wealth from depreciating currencies, declining equities and accelerating consumer prices. “What’s going on in Europe right now, we’re going to have to come up with another half a trillion, or maybe a trillion dollars to back the banks,” said Lutts. U.S. President Barack Obama in an address tomorrow is “going to talk about new fiscal programs and new costly programs for our government. The debt explosion’s just beginning,” he said. Obama plans to propose boosting job growth by injecting more than $300 billion into the economy next year mostly through tax cuts and infrastructure spending. Data last week showed the U.S. jobs market stalled in August. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday that Greece won’t get its next bailout installment unless it meets the aid package’s austerity goals. Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos pledged to accelerate budget measures. Platinum for immediate delivery fell 0.8 percent to $1,839.70 an ounce, trading back above gold after the yellow metal’s plunge earlier. Cash silver dropped 1.5 percent to $41.3650 an ounce and palladium fell 0.2 percent to $751.25 an ounce. To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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