Following a series of hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials, which caused markets to reevaluate expectations for a stop in additional interest rate hikes, gold prices declined somewhat on Friday and were headed for severe weekly losses.

Spot gold dipped 0.1% to $1,957.01 per ounce, meanwhile gold futures slumped by 0.4% to $1,961.90 per ounce.

The desire for safe havens declined along with worries about the Israel-Hamas conflict, which in turn held the market for gold mostly in check.

Following a 10% increase in October, early November profit-taking severely impacted gold prices, sending the yellow metal to more than three-week lows this week. However, costs stayed roughly around the mid-1900 range.

Even yet, Thursday's rise in gold prices came about as a result of traders switching from selling government bonds to gold in response to a dismal Treasury auction. However, any gold increases were constrained by a commensurate increase in Treasury yields.