Gold prices retreated from a new record high Thursday as investors booked profits after the latest leg of a rally that has seen the metal gain almost 16% this year driven by safe-haven demand and expectations of lower interest rates.

Spot gold was down 0.4% on the day at $3,036.54 an ounce at 1234 GMT, having risen as far as $3,057.21 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures rose 0.1% to $3,044.70.

"There is a bit of profit-taking after such stellar moves in the past week," Nitesh Shah, commodities strategist at WisdomTree said.

The potential for further progress on ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine is also adding pressure, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has intervened in the three-year-long war, holding separate talks with Russia and Ukraine about a partial ceasefire.

The U.S. dollar was up 0.5%, making bullion more expensive for foreign buyers.

Trump's tariffs, meanwhile, are widely seen as inflationary and have prompted gold to notch 16 record highs so far this year, four of them above $3,000.

The U.S. central bank left its key interest rate unchanged on Wednesday but the Federal Reserve is still expected to deliver rate cuts by the end of this year. Traders are pricing in 66 basis points of easing this year, at least two rate reductions of 25 bps each, with a cut in July fully priced in, LSEG data showed.

Gold acts as a hedge against uncertainty and tends to do well in a low-interest rate environment.

According to Alex Ebkarian, COO of precious metals dealer Allegiance Gold, “The Fed is stuck between persistent inflation and a slowing economy, navigating growing uncertainty. Yesterday, it held rates steady at 4.25%-4.5%, signaling caution ahead.

Ebkarian added, “Fed Chair Jerome Powell mentioned ‘uncertainty’ 16 times during his talk yesterday. He dismissed concerns about slowing growth and inflationary pressures from ongoing trade wars; however, considering that growth forecast was cut to 1.7% from 2.1%, core inflation rising from 2.5% to 2.8% and unemployment rate forecast was increased to 4.4%, investors should be ready to embrace more uncertainty leading to more volatility.”

Says Ebkarian, “This heightened uncertainty continues to support gold’s growth trajectory.”

Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive, concurs: "The stage seems set for gold to continue higher, but the market may run out of near-term catalysts as traders price in the new post-FOMC consensus."

"Investor demand for gold has surged in recent months on the uncertain economic and geopolitical backdrop... If the recent growth in demand evaporates, it would expose the market to downside risk," ANZ said in a Thursday note.

Spot silver fell 1.4% to $33.33 an ounce, platinum was 0.5% lower at $988.45 while palladium dropped 1.3% to $943.

"Gold remains firmly bullish with the next resistance at the psychological $3,100 level... weakness below $3,030 may trigger a decline lower," said Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM.