Gold prices slumped on Friday, January 20, as investors expect U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to bring calm to markets.
Spot gold was down 0.4 percent at $1,200.11 an ounce by 1438 GMT, while U.S. gold futures fell 0.1 percent to $1,200.
Also weighing on gold was a slightly firmer dollar, which makes the metal more expensive for holders of other currencies, Yahoo finance reports.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, added 0.1 percent to 101.25.
Better than expected U.S. jobs, housing and factory data reinforced the view that the U.S. economy is sufficiently robust to warrant interest rate rises.
Gold is highly sensitive to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
The metal has risen more than 7 percent since dropping to its lowest in more than 10-1/2 months in December, though it has failed to break above a key level in recent days.
“Gold has dropped back from quite a significant technical level around $1,220, a critical retracement of last year’s high to low move. I would say from here the risks are skewed to the downside in the short term,” Mitsubishi’s Butler said.
In other precious metals, silver shed 0.6 percent to $16.91 an ounce.
Platinum rose 0.5 percent to $962.30 after touching a low of $943.75 in the previous session, its worst since Jan. 5. Palladium gained 0.9 percent to $760.
