Gold breaks string of gains as global tensions ease

By Eric Onstad

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices dipped on Thursday, breaking a string of gains for four successive sessions, in response to a decline in global political tensions.

Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,347.60 per ounce by 1240 GMT, while U.S. gold futures fell 0.2 percent to $1,350.80 per ounce.

"Uncertainty has decreased somewhat. Geopolitical worries, trade risk have moved to the background," said commodity strategist Georgette Boele at ABN AMRO in Amsterdam.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he hoped a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be successful while Western missile strikes in Syria were less extensive than some had feared.

Earlier in the week, a senior administration official said Trump had delayed imposing additional sanctions on Russia.

Boele said she expected gold to decline to around $1,330 after failing to break above resistance.

"There was a bit of upward momentum, but you are still in the $1,300-$1,365 range. It's more of a technical trade at the moment - it tries the upside again and if that doesn't succeed then it falls back."

"Gold is hardly reacting at all to market participants' concerns about new sanctions against Russia and the associated uncertainties," Commerzbank said in a note.

Spot gold faces resistance at $1,356 per ounce, a break above which could lead to a gain to $1,365.23, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

Meanwhile, spot silver prices rose 0.7 percent to $17.27 per ounce after touching their highest since Feb. 1 at $17.345.

"A bounce in silver is not a surprise to me because you have lower liquidity and it's more sensitive to sentiment," Boele said, who said she expected silver to follow gold lower in coming days or weeks.

Silver also is used for industrial purposes, so it has been lifted by a rally in base metals.

"The downside is relatively limited in silver because it was the one that was pushed too low. Also there are no positions to be squeezed."

Silver is the worst performing precious metal over the past six months, little changed versus a rise of 4.5 percent for gold and 7.7 percent for palladium.

Platinum climbed 0.6 percent to $941.50 per ounce. It touched more than a three-week high of $953.50 earlier in the day.

Palladium fell 0.3 percent to $1,031.50 per ounce, after marking its highest since Feb. 27 at $1,057.20.

(Additional reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Jon Boyle and Jane Merriman)