Gold, silver slide on profit-booking, dollar strength

Gold and silver slid on Wednesday as investors booked profits after a ‍recent rally, while a stronger dollar weighed on sentiment across the precious metals complex.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot ⁠gold slipped 0.7% to $4,466.19 per ounce, as of 0205 GMT. Bullion hit a record high of $4,549.71 on December 26.

* U.S. gold futures for February delivery were 0.4% lower at $4,477.30.

* The dollar hugged ‌tight ranges, ‌near a more than two-week high, ahead of a slew of U.S. economic data, making greenback-priced assets more ‌expensive for other currency holders. * Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran, whose term at the U.S. central bank ends later this month, said on Tuesday that aggressive U.S. interest rate cuts are needed this year to keep the economy moving forward.
* Investors currently expect at least two rate cuts by the Fed this year, while they look to the non-farm payroll data due on Friday ‌for more ‍clues.
* Caracas and Washington have reached a deal to ‍export up to $2 billion worth of Venezuelan crude to ‌the United States, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, a move that would divert supplies from China following what Venezuelan officials have called a kidnapping of the former president Nicolas Maduro.
* Non-yielding assets tend to do well in a low-interest-rate environment and during times of geopolitical or economic uncertainty.

* Spot silver lost 1.2% to $80.34 per ounce, after hitting an all-time high of $83.62 on ‍December 29. Silver ended the year with annual gains of 147%, far outpacing gold, in what was its best year on record.

* ‍Spot platinum was ⁠down 2.9% at $2,373.0 ⁠per ounce, after rising to an all-time high of $2,478.50 last Monday. It rose more than 5% earlier in the session to a one-week high.

* Palladium traded 2.5% lower at $1,777.22 per ounce.