NEW YORK: Gold fell more than 1 percent on Tuesday as buyers cashed in gains from the biggest two-day rally in the metal since late 2008, made in the wake of Britain’s shock vote to leave the European Union last week.

The metal jumped to its highest in more than two years at $1,358.20 an ounce on Friday after the UK referendum vote, and to more than three-year highs in euro and sterling terms. It quickly retreated from that peak, however.

Spot gold was down 1 percent at $1,311.60 an ounce at 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 GMT), off an earlier low of $1,305.23. Bullion was on track to finish June up 8 percent and the second quarter up more than 6 percent.

US gold futures for August delivery settled down 0.5 percent at $1,317.90.

“Gold is taking a well-deserved breather,” Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy said. “Risk appetite is returning for now and with that, worries about the very rapid build-up of long positions leading up to Brexit.”

Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, climbed to the highest since July 2013, on Monday.

Spot silver rose 0.2 percent to $17.75 an ounce. Platinum was up 0.3 percent at $977.21 and palladium was 2.6 percent higher at $569.65.—Reuters