Gold down in New York

Gold prices were slightly lower on Thursday, paring most losses after sliding over 1 percent earlier when it was sold off with the euro, oil and equities as investors sold riskier assets heading into the quarter's end.

But analysts said they thought prices were destined to stay in a mostly sideways range for now as counter-balancing factors and conflicting economic data offset each other.

"There's a bevy of conflicting information that everyone is trying to digest.

So, on the back of that you're seeing a little fade to the market, but the dips remain buying opportunities," said David Meger, director of metals trading with Vision Financial Markets in Chicago.

Spot gold was off 0.4 percent at $1,656.46 an ounce by 2:50 EDT (1850 GMT), for a third session of losses.

It slid to its lowest since March 23 at $1,646 about midday, after rallying on Tuesday to a two-week high when Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke hinted that accommodative monetary policy would likely persist.

US gold futures for June delivery were down $5.60 an ounce to end at $1,654.90.

The gold/silver ratio, or the number of silver ounces needed to buy one ounce of gold, rose back towards 52, near a two-month high.

Spot platinum lost 0.5 percent to $1,623.70 an ounce, and palladium was down 0.1 percent at $641.42.