Gold prices falling: On Thursday, gold dropped $17.60, or around 1.1 percent, just a day after it fell 1.2 percent.

People walk by gold jewelry displayed in the window of a store in the jewelry district on Aug. 23, 2012 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Gold futures fell on Thursday, the last day of the month, as the Dow Jones neared its all-time high.

In February, gold futures lost 5 percent, marking the fifth straight month of decline, the website Marketwatch reported. On Thursday, it lost 1.1 percent, or $17.60 to $1,578.10 an ounce on Comex, which is a division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It also fell 1.2 percent, or $19.80, on Wednesday.

“Gold sellers (were) suffering for the past five months as the stock market drew money away,” George Gero, with RBC Capital Markets Global Futures, told the Wall Street Journal. 

Mark O’Byrne of GoldCore told MarketWatch: “Our trading desk was the busiest it has ever been on the sell side in February as retail investors sold out of nervousness due to the price falls.”

He added, “High net-worth selling was minimal and more was seen on the buy side especially this week by wealthier clients.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average eclipsed the 14,000 mark on Thursday. Gold is generally viewed as a hot commodity when there is more uncertainty about the political and economic situation.

“As equity markets are defying expectations…people are starting to discount the need to own gold in a portfolio,” Adam Klopfenstein, a market strategist with Archer Financial, told the Journal.

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