Meanwhile the renewed buzz around battery metals continues, as evidenced by SPC Nickel's 150% rise on its TSX Venture Exchange debut yesterday.
Gold's slide takes it back to about the same point as 12 months ago, before it slumped further towards $1,471/oz in the March COVID-19 market sell-off, then soared to an all-time high above $2,000/oz in August.
Emerging markets stocks were also coming under pressure on rising yields and a stronger US Dollar, IG market analyst Kyle Rodda said.
Market futures were mainly pointing higher.
Metals and mining equities were off 0.5% in Toronto, where Barrick Gold closed down 1.59% and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's annual convention is underway as a virtual event this year.
Battery metals explorer SPC Nickel (TSXV: SPC) was the standout on its first day of trade yesterday, closing up 150% to C50c.
It had raised $5.8 million at 20c per share and a further $1.8 million at 24c per flow-through share in December to look for nickel, copper and PGMs in the Sudbury mining camp in Ontario.
President and CEO Grant Mourre said the company planned to immediately start an aggressive $3.6 million exploration programme at its flagship Aer-Kidd project.