US equities continue its rally from yesterday and further pushed gold futures away from the radar of investors seeking to shelter some funds for transit but solid investment as the Standard & Poor's 500 index achieved its highest level in a month's time on Thursday's closing.

With the US jobless claims further dwindling as the week wears on, gold shot up to a high of $US1264.70 per ounce and almost reached the year's record of $US1266.50 seen on June 21 as the market witnessed the precious metal gaining traction of up to 15 percent this year while the S&P 500 slid by 1.5 percent within the same period.

LaSalle Futures Group metal trader Matthew Zeman told Bloomberg News that traders have regained the confidence to take risks which fuelled the recovery seen in equities so far and subsequently took away some value from gold.

Mr Zeman said that investors may be tipping on their toes for now and keenly monitoring the market "to see if prices will come down before they pile back into gold."

In New York, gold futures for the December delivery dipped by $6.60 or 0.5 percent to close at $1250.90 per ounce in the Comex division, the biggest retreat recorded so far for the most-traded contract since August 20 and coming from the near-record settling at $US1259.30 on September 7.

The market also saw steady movements on the SPDR Gold Trust, which remained untouched for the last two days and so far posting value surges of up to 14 percent this year.

Despite the huge decline, analysts said that gold still packs the energy required to soar in record heights this year as global economic conditions remain uncertain, with Mr Zeman adding that "as long as gold doesn't lose too much ground, one piece of bad news could take gold over the hurdle, and it'll take off from there."

On other precious metals, silver December deliveries lost 15.4 cents or 0.8 percent to settle at $19.855 per ounce, following its record level $20.18 on the previous day while platinum futures for October slid by $8.90 or 0.6 percent to close at $1555.30 per ounce, with palladium December deliveries slumping by $5.30 or one percent before settling at $521.80 per ounce.