NEW YORK: Gold prices fell on Friday as a rebound in U.S. bond yields and a surprise increase in September retail sales dented bullion's safe-haven status.

Spot gold fell 1.5% to $1,768.80 per ounce by 11:47 a.m. EDT (1547 GMT). U.S. gold futures slipped 1.6% to $1,769.70.

"Gold has everything going against it. Real rates are rising, equities are higher, so is bitcoin," said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

U.S. retail sales unexpectedly increased in September, boosting equities, and extending losses in risk-hedge gold.

Raising gold's opportunity cost, U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields recovered from a more than one-week low hit on Thursday.

"Expectations are growing that the Fed and other central banks are going to tighten their monetary policy, which should keep yields supported, and when yields rise gold tends to struggle," said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst with Think Markets.

"Investors are, however, likely expecting only a moderate tightening from major central banks and that shouldn't cause too much of a problem for gold as investors hedge against elevated price levels."