Gold staged a modest bounce on Thursday on bargain hunting after falling for eight straight days to a three-week low.
But analysts said the metal's safe-haven appeal appears to have waned after US shares snapped a five-day losing streak on Wednesday on hopes for more economic stimulus in China.
Stocks extended gains on Thursday, focusing on an upbeat growth forecast despite Beijing failing to announce expanded stimulus measures.
In unveiling this year's budget, China's Premier Wen Jiabao said that China will achieve 8 percent growth this year despite a deepening financial crisis.
"Technically, we are seeing gold bounce on bargain hunting buying. The flow of money is a bit opaque at the moment, and that is causing a bit of uncertainty," said Koji Suzuki, senior analyst at SBI Futures Co Ltd.
Spot gold rose 0.6 percent to USD912.70 an ounce by 0600 GMT, rebounding after falling on Wednesday as low as USD900.95, the lowest since Feb. 10.
Prices have fallen about 9 percent since they hit an 11-month high of USD1,005.40 on Feb. 20, not far from the record of USD1,030.80 marked last March.
The dollar's rise against the euro and yen was also steering investors away from gold. Bullion is often bought as a currency hedge, though the relationship has not been as strong as normal in recent sessions.
"That (dollar strength) is going to put a bit of weight on gold," said Adrian Koh of Philip Futures. The euro inched down against the dollar and the yen on Thursday as investors expected the European Central Bank to cut interest rates later in the day to help the sinking euro zone economy.
Growth in gold-backed exchange-traded funds has also slowed, which traders said underscored falling interest in the metal.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said holdings remained at a record 1,029.29 tonnes on March 4, unchanged from Feb. 26 when they first hit that level.
