Gold, which tends to benefit from lower rates, rose as much as 1.2% before erasing gains after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference that no one should see this as a “new pace.”

Gold hovered near record levels on Friday and was on track for a weekly gain after the U.S. Federal Reserve's recent oversized interest rate reduction and on signs that further cuts were on the horizon.

Gold pulled back from a record high after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled policymakers aren’t in a rush to aggressively lower interest rates following Wednesday’s half percentage point cut by the US central bank.