Platinum also hit a three-week low and palladium dropped as much as 2.7 percent after spiking to a 10-week high of 338 dollars the previous day on technical buying and purchases from Chinese jewellery makers. Silver hovered below 11 dollars an ounce.
Talk that central banks might be selling gold resurfaced but there was no confirmation, said dealers.
Spot gold hit a low of 611.90 dollars an ounce before rebounding to 613.00/613.80 dollars an ounce, still down from 615.10/615.85 dollars late in New York on Thursday, when it dropped nearly 2 percent.
Silver which normally tracks gold, edged down to 11.88/11.98 dollars an ounce from 11.94/12.04 dollars late in New York.
"Generally people are caught long. It could really be central bank selling, that's why we broke 630 dollars and came crushing down to this level. But I think the price drop is normal," said dealer in Singapore.
"I don't expect much activity in Asia and if anything, Asians will be buying gold at this level, not selling. We are still within the range of 600 and 650 dollars and there's nothing to be excited about," he said.
Benchmark gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange plunged by the daily 60 yen limit to 2,304 yen per gram on active technical selling given this week's falls in oil prices.
Gold is used in jewellery and often bought as an investment that can be sold in times of trouble.
"It's looking a bit bearish for gold but it's still probably going to find pretty good support at 600 dollars. It's more like that 625 dollars on the top side again now," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.
Declines in crude oil and a US-ordered truce in Lebanon may reduce gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation, but Heathcote said geopolitical tension remained and that would offer some support.
"Whether that [truce] holds or not is still yet to be found out. If that blows up again, the oil price will no doubt go with it," he said.
Oil prices have come under pressure after a cease-fire took hold in Lebanon and BP said it would keep pumping from half of its 400,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Prudhoe Bay oilfield during pipeline repairs.
US crude oil had tumbled more than 7 percent in six out of eight sessions up to Thursday's US market close.
"Weak oil is the key factor putting selling pressure on gold, but we still haven't see major liquidations," said Shuji Sugata, assistant manager at Mitsubishi Corp. Futures and Securities.
"The trend for gold is weak and we need to see if further sales emerge next week when more players come back from holiday," Sugata said. Still, gold could gain support if geopolitical tensions intensify again, as plenty of buyers are looking to buy gold for investment purposes on price dips.
A UN Security Council resolution adopted on Aug. 11 called for a truce and a peacekeeping force to help the Lebanese army supervise the pull-out of Israeli troops from the southern Lebanon after 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. Most fighting stopped on Monday.
Some Hong Kong dealers reported active buying in the physical sector.
"Trading houses have bought palladium because it's quite cheap. Even today, we saw strong buying for gold from physical buyers as well as bargain hunters," said a dealer.
Platinum hit a low of 1,209 dollars before rebounding to 1,211/1,216 dollars an ounce. That was still lower than 1,230/1,235 dollars late in New York.
Sister metal palladium also fell to 331/336 dollars an ounce from 336/341 dollars. It touched a low of 327 dollars an ounce in Asia.
Dealers said palladium attracted interest from jewellers and speculators as it was moving away from a four-year high of 406 dollars an ounce hit in May.
