Gold prices retreated from their record highs during Asian trading on Thursday after the yellow metal's rally slowed, with markets focusing on the timing of U.S. interest rate cuts and growing concerns about a potential economic recession.

• The yellow metal reached record levels this week amid increasing confidence that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in September.

• However, a combination of profit-taking and a rebound in the dollar led to a decline in gold prices on Thursday.

• Spot gold fell by 0.5% to $2,500.55 per ounce, while December gold futures decreased by 0.4% to $2,547.05 per ounce. Spot gold hit a peak of $2,532.05 per ounce on Wednesday.

• Gold’s record highs followed the release of the Federal Reserve's late-July meeting minutes, which showed broad support among policymakers for lowering interest rates, as progress was made in reducing inflation.

• These minutes bolstered bets on further monetary easing in September, though traders were divided on whether the rate cut would be 25 or 50 basis points, according to "CME Fedwatch" data.

• A sharp decline in payroll data for the year through March 2024, released on Wednesday, renewed fears that a cooling labor market could lead to a U.S. economic recession.

• While recession fears limited broader risk-taking in financial markets, gold retreated amid some profit-taking, and the dollar also recovered from its seven-month lows.

• The focus now shifts to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday.

• Lower interest rates are generally favorable for gold, as they reduce the opportunity cost of investing in non-yielding assets.

• On the other hand, platinum futures fell by 0.4% to $970.0 per ounce, while silver futures declined by 0.3% to $29.448 per ounce.

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