Gold fell to a two-week low on Thursday as the dollar firmed and equity markets rallied, but expectations that the greenback's climb may be coming to an end helped limit losses. Spot gold prices were down 1 percent at $1,187.93 an ounce by 3:02 p.m. EST (2002 GMT), after tapping $1,184.03, its lowest since January 11. US gold futures settled down 0.7 percent at $1,189.80.
"The dollar is a little bit stronger this morning, yields are up a bit and that's why gold is below $1,200," said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke. "Trump's victory has unleashed one of the strongest expressions of business and financial optimism in history, starkly affecting variables central to gold's short-term trading patterns," said Sprott Asset Management.
"Should our suspicions bear out that reigning euphoria proves short-lived, recent market dislocations will provide excellent entry points for a wide array of investment assets." Investors abandoning gold can be seen in the holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, which fell 0.6 percent to 799.07 tonnes on Wednesday.
Palladium slid 1 percent to $722 an ounce, after touching a three-week low at $711.15. It fell more than 7 percent on Wednesday, its worst one-day fall since April 2013. Spot silver fell 0.9 percent to $16.79 an ounce, while platinum inched up 0.08 percent to $978.50.