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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures dropped Thursday, continuing their recent volatile trend, as traders consolidated prior-session gains.
Gold futures closed down $10.30 at $632.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"It's a knee-jerk reaction after yesterday," said Charles Nedoss, senior account manager at Peak Trading Group in Chicago. "You didn't have any more bullish news. You just saw some people take profits."
Jon Nadler, analyst at Kitco.com, said: "Gold's bias remains to the downside -- given summer seasonality-- and the fact that the Lebanese conflict in its current form has now been factored in and digested."
Other metals prices also posted losses. Silver dropped 6 cents at $11.065 an ounce. Copper edged down 18.4 cents at $3.4095 a pound, platinum dropped $11.20 at $1,226.30 an ounce and palladium declined $6.05 at $312 an ounce.
Trading in metals has been very volatile lately with big price swings in both directions. Prices lost almost $40 early this week after gaining more than 5% last week as safe-haven demand was fueled by fighting in the Middle East and other global political tensions.
Gold gained more than $13 on Wednesday, boosted by the weak dollar. The dollar fell after Bernanke signaled in an address to the Senate banking committee that the end of the rate-hiking cycle may be closer than many expected. The dollar extended its prior-session losses on Thursday.
"The small children managing money for hedge funds have been spinning their wheels," said Ned Schmidt, editor of the Value View Gold Report. "[They] bought gold on Lebanon and sold it Monday on Lebanon. [They] bought gold on Bernanke's mumbling testimony on one day and are now selling it due to Bernanke's testimony."
On his second day of testimony to Congress Thursday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke remained positive about the economic outlook and monetary policy.
He said GDP should grow at around 3% and inflation will be benign.
Elsewhere on the commodity markets, crude oil rose. Crude for August delivery closed up 42 cents at $73.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following a low of $72.05. See full story.
While the fighting in the Middle East continues to take lives, safe-haven demand for gold seems lackluster for the moment.
On Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the "excessive use of force" by Israel against Lebanon, and while he advocated for an immediate stop to the conflict, he said that there were "serious obstacles" to a cease-fire, the Associated Press reported.
Nedoss of the Peak Trading Group said that Annan's attempts to "talk peace" might have given pause to some gold investors. He added, however, that a resolution to the crisis in the Middle East seems a long way off.
Israel carried out 80 air strikes against Lebanon on Thursday, bringing the number of Lebanese casualties since the fighting broke out last week to 300, according to the BBC. About 29 Israeli's have died since Israel began the offensive triggered by the kidnapping of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah.
Lebanon's president Emile Lahoud called for an immediate ceasefire and described Israel's attack as a "massacre," the BBC reported. Thousands are fleeing the fighting and aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe.
"Middle East fighting continues to inject a warranted dose of anxiety into all markets," Nadler said. "Certainly, there is little evidence that any sort of timetable (one week or two) has been set for this massive localized war on terror, or that Israel will abstain from expanding the geographic area in which it now operates."
In another political development, Iran pledged to respond formally by August 22 - much later than hoped - to a package of incentives from western governments designed to persuade it to stop enriching uranium.
Iran also warned that it would change its nuclear policies if the United Nations imposed sanctions against it, according to news reports. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened that Iran might withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and block United Nations inspections of its facilities.
On the supply side, gold inventories were unchanged at 8.06 million troy ounces as of late Wednesday, according to Nymex data. Silver supplies rose by 153,362 troy ounces to 102.9 million.
Copper supplies were unchanged at 7,144 short tons.
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