Gold fell to a near two-week low on Tuesday, after its steepest loss since March in the prior session, as a firm dollar and higher equities curbed appetite for the precious metal. Bullion turned quietly positive in late-day dealings after falling in five out of the past six sessions, failing to fully benefit from data last week showing that the US economy added the fewest jobs in seven months in April.
Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,267.30 an ounce by 3:03 p.m. EDT (1903 GMT), after hitting an early low of $1,257.25, its weakest since April 28. US gold for June delivery settled down 0.1 percent at $1,264.80 an ounce. Spot prices rose as much as 23 percent this year and are still up 19 percent in 2016 so far as expectations for a near-term increase in US interest rates ease. Higher rates would bolster the dollar, while lifting the opportunity cost of holding gold.
"The drivers that have lifted gold prices still remain largely intact, including the continuous wavering of the Fed in terms of the rate increases and the softening of the dollar, which introduced a layer of uncertainty in investors' mind sets that tends to support the precious metal," said Nitesh Shah, ETF Securities director of commodity research. Silver rose 0.7 percent to $17.12 an ounce, platinum was up 1.2 percent at $1,050.50 and palladium gained 1.6 percent to $592.75.