The precious metals had rallied earlier in the day, as a dropping dollar and slowing economy usually buoy gold, which is regarded as a hedge against inflation. But profit-taking, the countdown to elections, and catch-up with oil prices, which fell more than $2 on Monday, took the wind out of metals' sails.
Most-active December gold settled 60 cents lower at $606.80 a troy ounce.
December silver settled 2 cents higher at $12.27 an ounce.
December gold peaked Tuesday at $609.30 an ounce. The rally was seen as the dollar headed south following the release of Chicago PMI data and U.S. consumer confidence, which came in below expectations. But the rally was short-lived as soft crude oil prices and firm resistance near the $616 level capped gold's momentum.
"Part of the moves are in relation to the dollar," said Larry Young, senior trader at Infinity Brokerage. "But the market as a whole and especially in metals won't see a break until the elections next week are over."
January platinum settled at $1,086.50 an ounce down $6.70.
December palladium settled $6.05 lower at $322.70 an ounce.
December copper contract slipped 1.30 cents to settle at $3.3455 per pound.
