Gold fell on Monday after strong US economic data boosted investor risk sentiment and a top US Federal Reserve official said an interest rate hike is likely to take place ahead of the market's current expectations due to fading economic concerns. Spot gold eased 0.5 percent to $1,216.10 an ounce by 3:01 pm EDT (1901 GMT), while US gold for June delivery settled down 0.3 percent at $1,219 an ounce.
Spot prices saw their biggest quarterly rise in nearly 30 years in the three months to March, rallying on speculation the Fed was not in a hurry to normalise interest rates, but drifted back towards the key $1,200 level after hawkish comments from several Fed officials. The US central bank raised rates in December for the first time in nearly a decade.
On Monday, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, who is usually cautious, said it was "surprising" that US interest rate futures markets currently imply one or zero rate hikes this year. He said this prediction could prove "too pessimistic." "That was a bit of a hawkish tilt. I think the market is reading into it that the minutes could be a little more hawkish than we thought," said Bart Melek, head of Commodity Strategy for TD Securities in Toronto, referring to minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's March meeting that will be released on Wednesday at 2 pm EDT (1800 GMT). Silver fell 0.5 percent to $14.95, platinum slipped 1.4 percent to $941.10 and palladium fell 2.3 percent to $551.78.