Gold prices dipped on Thursday, breaking a string of gains for four successive sessions, in response to a decline in global political tensions.
Spot gold lost 0.24 percent at $1,345.67 per ounce by 4:11 p.m. EDT, while June U.S. gold futures settled down $4.70, or 0.4 percent, at $1,348.80 per ounce.
"Uncertainty has decreased somewhat. Geopolitical worries, trade risk have moved to the background," said ABN AMRO commodity strategist Georgette Boele.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he hoped a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be successful while Western missile strikes in Syria were less extensive than some had feared. Earlier in the week, a senior administration official said Trump delayed imposing additional sanctions on Russia.
Boele said she expected gold to decline to around $1,330 after failing to break above resistance. "There was a bit of upward momentum, but you are still in the $1,300-$1,365 range. It's more of a technical trade at the moment - it tries the upside again and if that doesn't succeed then it falls back."
"Rates are up and dollar-supportive. The Fed still seems to be on the path for tightening. The Fed and cryptocurrencies, a bit, have been hampering (gold)," said Dan Denbow, USAA senior portfolio manager. Rising yields make gold a less attractive investment because it does not draw interest.
Meanwhile, spot silver prices rose 0.61 percent to $17.25 per ounce after touching their highest since Feb. 1 of $17.35. "A bounce in silver is not a surprise to me because you have lower liquidity and it's more sensitive to sentiment," Boele said, adding that she expected silver to follow gold lower in coming days or weeks.
"The precious metals fought through some headwinds yesterday. Everything except silver is succumbing to those headwinds today," said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at EverBank.
Silver also is used for industrial purposes, so it has been lifted by a rally in base metals. "The downside is relatively limited in silver because it was the one that was pushed too low. Also there are no positions to be squeezed."
Silver has been the worst performing precious metal over the past six months, little changed versus a rise of 4.5 percent for gold and 7.7 percent for palladium.
Platinum lost 0.27 percent at $933 per ounce. It touched more than a three-week high of $953.50 earlier in the day. Palladium fell 0.34 percent to $1,031.49 per ounce, after marking its highest since Feb. 27 of $1,057.20.