Spot gold fell 2.3% to $4,541.91 per ounce by 15:40 GMT, after touching its weakest level since May 4 earlier in the trading session. The precious metal has also recorded weekly losses of around 3.7%.

Meanwhile, US gold futures for June delivery dropped 3.2% to settle at $4,535 per ounce.

Other precious metals also decline

Other precious metals also posted notable losses. Spot silver plunged 8.6% to $76.27 per ounce, while platinum slipped 3.9% to $1,976.54. Palladium also declined 1.7% to $1,412.11 per ounce.