Gold fell more than 1% on Thursday as investors booked profits from recent rallies and some switched to the safety of cash driven by growing U.S-China trade tensions and doubts about an economic recovery.

Spot gold was down 1.5% to $1,722.78 per ounce by 2:49 a.m. EDT (1849 GMT), having earlier fallen to $1,716.44. US gold futures settled 1.7% lower at $1,721.90.

"Equities are significantly overbought, a lot of money plowed into the tech industry, so there's a fear trade out there once you start to unwind ... Gold will come under a bit of pressure as people try and raise capital," said Phil Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

"But it's not a throw the towel in on gold (situation). It's just backing off, that's all." Elsewhere, palladium dropped 3.7% to $2,023.73 an ounce after hitting a one-month high on Wednesday. Platinum shed 2.4% to $830.60 per ounce. Silver slipped 2.7% to $17.03.