• Gold prices slipped on Thursday as the U.S. dollar held its strong gains from the previous session, but simmering tensions over Russia and apotential trade war offered underlying support.
• Gold posted its biggest one-day percentage fall in nearly nine months on Wednesday after robust U.S. data lifted the dollar, which steadied at those strong levels on Thursday.
• Spot gold dipped 0.1 percent to $1,323.19 per ounce by 1:38 p.m. EDT (1738 GMT), after hitting $1,321.21 its lowest level since March 21.
• U.S. gold futures for June delivery settled down $2.70, or 0.2 percent, at $1,327.30 per ounce.
• There was an easing of tensions in the Far East regarding North Korea, but there's still tension between the West and Russia ... this can boil over again and support gold," said Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
• North Korea and South Korea will hold their first summit in more than a decade on April 27, South Korean officials said.
• Moscow threatened to retaliate after the United States and other Western countries expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats over the poisoning of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England with a military-grade nerve toxin.
• Concerns about a global trade war have eased but that does not mean it is over, said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.
• United States precious metals markets will be closed on Friday for the Good Friday holiday.
• Technically, April gold bulls have lost their overall near-term technical advantage. Prices today were headed for a bearish weekly low close in U.S. trade terms. Gold bulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at the January high of $1,370.50. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solid technical support at $1,300.00. First resistance is seen at $1,330.00 and then at $1,335.00. First support is seen at $1,320.00 and then at $1,309.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0
• Meanwhile, spot silver was up 0.25 percent at $16.30 per ounce after falling to $16.20, a one-week low. Silver was on track to post a quarterly loss of 3.7 percent after two quarters of modest gains.
• Platinum dropped 0.3 percent to $928.50 per ounce, after hitting $922.50, the weakest level since late December. The metal was down about5.4 percent so far this month, on course to post its worst month since September.
• Palladium lost 2.1 percent to $945.75 per ounce, earlier hitting $938.22, its lowest level since Oct. 11, and was set to fall more than 9 percent this month, the steepest drop since December 2016.
Reference: Reuters, Kitco
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