Gold fell more than 1 percent on Friday as the dollar briefly turned positive versus the euro, extending losses made after China earlier raised lenders' reserve requirements and as a lack of haven demand weighed. The metal had pared losses as the dollar lost ground after US data showed a below-consensus rise in retail sales last month, but soon slipped lower. Solid bond sales by Portugal and Spain have cut haven buying of gold, analysts said.
Spot gold was bid at $1,359.10 an ounce at 1610 GMT, against $1,372.75 late in New York on Thursday, having earlier hit a low of $1,356.50. US gold futures for February delivery fell $27.50 an ounce to $1,359.50. Gold prices rallied above $1,390 an ounce on Thursday, its highest this year, before turning lower to drop nearly 1 percent on the day. It has since retreated further.
"The rally we saw yesterday apparently drew out a few nervous longs who had been waiting for an opportunity to scale back positions," said Ole Hansen, senior manager at Saxo Bank. "It looks like attention (for now) has turned to other markets like stocks and cyclicals."
Gold dropped after China's central bank raised lenders' required reserves for the fourth time in just over two months on Friday, making good on its vow that inflation fighting will be a top priority for the year. Gold is sometimes seen as a hedge against rising inflation, and also benefits widely from a low interest rate environment. Additional factors are also pressuring gold, analysts said.
"China's move of course has consequences for the gold market, but it is not (just) China that is playing a role," said Peter Fertig, a consultant at Quantitative Commodity Research. Holdings of the world's largest gold ETF, New York's SPDR Gold Trust, fell by more than 6 tonnes on Thursday and are down more than 15 tonnes so far this year.
Among other precious metals, spot silver was bid at $28.44 an ounce against $28.67. The gold:silver ratio - the number of ounces of silver needed to buy an ounce of gold - rose to a one-month high on Friday at just below 48, showing that silver, as is typical, is underperforming gold in a falling market. Platinum was at $1,810.49 an ounce against $1,799.99, while palladium was at $791 against $803.75.