Gold prices hit their lowest in more than six months on Thursday as the greenback held near one-year highs amid mounting US-China trade friction. Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,249.71 an ounce, as of 0752 GMT. Earlier in the session, the bullion touched $1,248.25, its lowest since mid-December.
US gold futures for August delivery dropped 0.4 percent at $1,251.20 an ounce.
Gold has been on the downside mainly because of the strengthening dollar and an increase in US interest rates, said Hareesh V, head of commodity research, Geojit Financial Services.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.1 percent to 95.342, after hitting the highest since July last year at 95.531, amid global trade tensions and demand from the looming end of 2018's first half.
Gold prices, which usually rise in times of political and economic uncertainty, have hardly benefited from ongoing global trade tensions, while expectations that the US Federal Reserve will hike interest rates pulled down the bullion.
"Nowadays, there is no safe-haven appeal for gold, people are tracking other assets as safe-haven," Hareesh said. Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, dropped 0.36 percent to 821.69 tonnes on Wednesday.
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