Gold dropped to an eight-week low on Tuesday as safe-haven demand continued to fade in the wake of Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French election and as expectations for tighter US monetary policy lifted bond yields.
Revived appetite for riskier assets also pushed global stocks to record highs, while the US dollar index rallied.
Rising stocks and higher bond yields raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while a stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.
The spot gold price was down 0.8 percent at $1,215.81 an ounce by 2:19 pm EDT (1819 GMT), after falling below its 100-day moving average to $1,214.39, the lowest since March 15. US gold futures settled down 0.9 percent at $1,216.10. "With one of the largest political risk events now cleared, some consolidation is warranted, albeit political uncertainty lingers in Italy and is likely to remain for some time," UBS analyst Joni Teves said.
"Further pressure cannot be ruled out for now but we expect bargain hunting to emerge and physical buying to strengthen should the market test $1,200, paving the way for a recovery." In other precious metals, silver was down 1 percent at $16.07 an ounce, after falling to $16.01, the lowest since January 3. Platinum was 1.9 percent lower at $898.98 and palladium was down 1.6 percent at $794.40 an ounce.