Gold prices were slightly lower in European trading on Wednesday, as the dollar edged away from the prior session’s three-week low, prompting investors to take profit on recent gains.
Comex gold futures shed $8.10, or around 0.6%, to $1,286.00 a troy ounce by 3:00AM ET (07:00GMT). Meanwhile, spot gold was down $4.90 at $1,284.60.
The yellow metal settled higher for the fifth session in a row on Tuesday after hitting its strongest since early November at $1,297.40 at the start of the week.
Also on the Comex, silver dipped 7.2 cents, or about 0.4%, to $18.20 a troy ounce. It touched its highest since November 11 at $18.65 on Monday.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, edged up 0.1% to 99.52, pulling away from Tuesday’s low of 99.36, its deepest trough since March 28.
Meanwhile, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was at around at 2.19%, after falling to a low of 2.165% Tuesday, the lowest since November 10.
Gold has been well-supported in recent sessions as market players sought shelter in safe-haven assets ahead of the upcoming French presidential election on Sunday and amid heightened geopolitical tension between the U.S. and North Korea.
Reduced expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike in June in wake of recent weakness in U.S. economic data further burnished the appeal of the yellow metal.
Futures traders are pricing in around a 40% chance of a hike at the Fed’s June meeting, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, down from around 60% last week.
Elsewhere in metals trading, platinum inched up 0.2% to $980.30, while palladium tacked on 0.3% to $773.35 an ounce.
May copper futures gained 1.9 cents to $2.549 a pound, bouncing back after touching a three-month low of $2.515 in the prior session, on concern over a slowdown in demand from China.
