LONDON: Gold edged up from the previous day's eight-week low on Wednesday as US President Trump's abrupt firing of FBI chief James Comey hit stock markets, though gains were capped by expectations of further US interest rate increases.
European shares retreated from 21-month highs and the dollar initially slipped on concerns that Trump's dismissal of his FBI chief could make it harder for him to push through tax reform plans.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,223.69 an ounce by 1131 GMT, while US gold futures for June delivery rose by $7.70 to $1,223.80.
The metal slipped sharply in last week as concerns about this month's French elections and North Korea's nuclear programme faded, slipping to its lowest since mid-March at $1,213.81 on Tuesday.
In addition to jitters over the Comey firing, rekindled fears that North Korea could be gearing up for another weapons test fed into risk aversion in the broader markets, taking some pressure off gold.
"The unpredictability of both Trump and North Korea has been a reminder that geo-risk has not disappeared but temporarily gone into hibernation," said Saxo Bank's head of commodity research, Ole Hansen.
"Initially (the Comey sacking) has had only a limited impact but it highlights that there are other drivers out there. It can turn on a plate if one of the two escalates, especially North Korea."
Trump attributed his decision to sack Comey, who had been leading an investigation into the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 election, to the FBI chief's handling of an investigation into presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's emails.
Rival Democrats said that Trump had political motives for the move.
Gains in gold remained muted as expectations for further US monetary policy tightening next month underpinned the dollar and weighed on bullion.
The metal is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
Interest rate futures implied that traders saw close to a 90 percent chance of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at its June 13-14 policy meeting, CME Group's FedWatch tool showed.
"We think that gold's slide could perhaps extend to $1,180-$1,200, an area of good technical support," INTL FCStone said in a note.
Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.7 percent at $16.27 an ounce after sliding to its weakest since Jan. 3 at $16.01 on Tuesday. Platinum gained 0.9 percent to $909 and palladium was up 0.4 percent at $799.
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