On Thursday, the dollar recovered along with a rise in wagers that the Federal Reserve will keep rising interest rates, which reduced demand for gold as a safe haven due to lessening fears of a banking catastrophe.

The yellow metal continued to decline for a second day in a row, retreating further from the $2,000 mark as investors re-examined their worries about an impending economic disaster in light of evidence of stability in the banking sector.

Risk appetite progressively returned to markets following regulators' assurances that the US banking system was secure and the absence of any unfavourable news in the sector during the previous two weeks, which diminished the allure of gold as a safe haven.

Spot gold slipped by 0.3% to $1,959.12 per ounce, while gold futures dipped by 0.4% to $1,976.45 per ounce.

In anticipation of important Chinese business activity data on Friday, copper futures for industrial metals declined 0.4% to $4.0682 a pound.