Gold prices fell from near seven-month highs on a stronger dollar and after a written testimony by a former FBI director to the US Senate was seen as containing few surprises, but declines were limited as uncertainty from the UK election remained. Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said US President Donald Trump asked him to drop a probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of an investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election, according to testimony from Comey posted on the Senate Intelligence Committee's website.
"Gold trading near lows of the session as Comey's written remarks confirm he told the president more than once that he was not personally under investigation and contain no hints of what could be obviously considered obstruction," said Tai Wong, director of base and precious metals trading for BMO Capital Markets in New York. "The Q&A will be a circus and can't rule out something juicy but so far those hoping for a smoking gun may have instead found a child's water pistol."
Spot gold was down 0.6 percent at $1,285.17 an ounce by 3:34 pm EDT (1934 GMT). On Tuesday, it gained 1.1 percent to its highest since November last year at $1,295.97. US gold futures slipped to settle at $1,293.2. Among other precious metals, platinum fell 1.2 percent to $944.90 an ounce and palladium slid 2.3 percent to $833.90 after earlier touching $859.80 an ounce, its highest since September 2014. Platinum is used mainly to make autocatalysts for diesel-fuelled cars, while palladium is mainly used for autocatalysts in gasoline-fuelled cars. Silver was down 0.5 percent at $17.57 an ounce.
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