PRECIOUS-Gold steadies as investors keep wary eye on Greenland, Iran

By Pablo Sinha

Jan 15 (Reuters) - Gold prices steadied on Thursday, after falling nearly 1% earlier in the session, as concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's focus on Greenland provided underlying support for the market while investors assessed the situation in Iran.

Spot gold XAU= was steady at $4,619.54 per ounce, as of 1200 GMT. Prices were down nearly 1% earlier in the session, as Trump's suggestion that he may pause military action against Iran dented safe-haven demand. Bullion hit a record $4,642.72 on Wednesday.

U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for February delivery fell 0.3% to $4,623.80.

"Momentum (in gold) is really strong and people are happy to step on the dips and buy any dip they can get their hands on," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, adding that concerns about the situation in Greenland were supporting prices.

Trump reiterated on Wednesday that the U.S. needs Greenland and that Denmark cannot be relied upon to protect the island.

Meanwhile, the United States was withdrawing some personnel from key bases in the Middle East as a precaution given heightened regional tensions.

At the White House, Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran's crackdown on protests were easing, adopting a wait‑and‑see posture after earlier threatening intervention.

Trump said on Wednesday he had opted, for now, against imposing tariffs on rare earths, lithium and other critical minerals, and instead ordered his administration to seek supplies from international trading partners.

Safe-haven gold tends to do well during times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, as well as low-interest rate environments.

Markets expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to leave rates unchanged at its January 27-28 meeting, but are pricing in at least two 25-basis-point rate cuts this year. FEDWATCH

Spot silver XAG= slid 1.7% to $91.22 per ounce after hitting an all-time high of $93.57 earlier in the session.

"A normalization could see silver slump by 1/3 relative to gold, lifting the (gold-silver) ratio to 70," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

Spot platinum XPT= receded 0.6% to $2,369.02 per ounce after scaling a record peak of $2,478.50 on December 29, while palladium XPD= lost 1.1% to $1,806.75 per ounce.