Gold fell below $1,650 an ounce on Wednesday after data showed disappointingly small growth in US retail sales in January, while some investors stayed at the sidelines ahead of a G20 meeting later this week, which is expected to set the tone for the gold trade. China's week-long Lunar New Year holiday also curbed interest in the physical market, traders said. Spot gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,641.74 an ounce by 3:03 pm EST (2003 GMT).
US gold futures for April delivery settled down $4.50 at $1,645.10 an ounce, with trading volume at 30 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Gold suffered technical selling pressure this week, with prices sliding to Tuesday's one-month low at $1,638.82. Silver dropped 1 percent to $30.76 an ounce. Spot palladium fell 0.6 percent to $764.22 an ounce. Earlier in the session, it hit $775, its strongest since September 5, 2011. Platinum edged up 0.3 percent to $1,718, still within sight of a 17-month peak struck last week. With a 12 percent gain, platinum is the best performer this year so far, compared with a 10 percent increase for palladium and a nearly 2 percent fall in gold.