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By Ishaan Arora<\/p>\n
Jan 15 (Reuters) – Gold slipped on Thursday as investors booked profits after three consecutive sessions of record highs, while an \u200bapparent softer tone from U.S. President Donald Trump on the Federal Reserve \u200cchair and Iran dampened safe-haven demand for bullion.<\/p>\n
Spot gold was down 0.8% at $4,584.03 per ounce, as \u200cof 0322 GMT. In the previous session, bullion hit a record high of $4,642.72.<\/p>\n
U.S. gold futures for February delivery fell 1% to $4,587.70.<\/p>\n
“Today, we’re seeing that gold is down a bit after (Trump) said maybe we’re not going to intervene in Iran, staving \u2060off safe-haven demand (in the short \u200crun), but the larger story (of the metal’s rise) is not going away,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.<\/p>\n
With \u200dIran’s leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the country has ever faced since the 1979 revolution, Tehran threatened on U.S. military bases in the region, seeking to \u200bdeter Trump’s repeated threats of military intervention.<\/p>\n
At the White House, however, Trump \u200csuggested he was adopting a wait-and-see posture toward the crisis.<\/p>\n
Trump said on Wednesday that he has no plans to fire Jerome Powell despite a Justice Department criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve chair, but it was “too early” to say what he would ultimately do.<\/p>\n
Later in the day, investor focus will be on \u2060U.S. weekly jobless claims for the first week \u200bof January to assess labour market conditions for \u200bmore clues on monetary policy. Traders continue to anticipate two interest rate cuts this year.<\/p>\n
A low-interest-rate environment, geopolitical and economic uncertainty \u200dtraditionally favour non-yielding assets \u2060such as gold.<\/p>\n
Spot silver slid 5.6% to $87.46 per ounce after hitting an all-time high of $93.57 earlier in the session.<\/p>\n
Spot platinum receded 4.3% to $2,282.90 per \u2060ounce, a one-week high, after scaling a record peak of $2,478.50 on December 29.<\/p>\n
Palladium lost 3.3% \u200cto $1,766.25 per ounce and hovered near a one-week low.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Ishaan \u200cArora in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n