• Gold fell to a six-week low on Thursday as the dollar rose to a two-week high on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve may raise interest rates as early as June.
• Spot gold fell 0.3 percent to $1,234.52 per ounce by 0724 GMT, after hitting its lowest since March 21 at $1,232.60 earlier in the session.
• "The price action in gold since mid-April has been technically bearish. The Fed has basically put the ship back on course with regard to their intentions to continue hiking rates," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
• "With the safe-haven premium coming off gold, there was enough to break the camel's back. Any small rallies are going to get sold and gold is set for a deeper correction towards the $1,200 level," Halley said.
• Investors will now focus on Friday's monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for further clues on the Fed's likely rate hike trajectory. Economists polled by Reuters expect U.S. employers to have added 185,000 jobs in April, up from 98,000 in March.
• "It seems like the decline (in precious metals) could continue somewhat further," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said. "However, we do expect a period of consolidation to set in fairly shortly and do not see a substantial drop below the $1,200 level for gold anytime soon."
• Spot silver rose 0.9 percent to $16.53, after hitting $16.37 on Wednesday, it lowest since early January.
• Global gold demand in Q1 2017 was 1,034.5t. The 18% year-on-year decline suffers from the comparison with Q1 2016, which was the strongest ever first quarter.
• Jewellers saw robust gold demand this Akshaya Tritiya because prices were low and on account of profit-booking in equities. The underlying demand trend was strong after it stayed weak last year.
• Sudheesh Nambiath, senior analyst, precious metals, South Asia, GFMS Thomson Reuters, said: “Compared to last year's 17 tonnes, our estimate is that this year demand for gold on Akshaya Tritiya on April 28 more than doubled and would be in the range of 35-40 tonnes.”
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