By 9:53 am EDT, December delivery gold was off $3.00, or 0.63 percent, at $472.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division. It moved from $476.60 to $471.20, which was the contract's lowest price since Tuesday.
Stop-loss broker and fund selling pulled gold back from a previous 10-day peak after the dollar rose. The US Commerce Department said third quarter gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.9 percent, while economists had expected 3.6 percent growth.
The data showed resilience in the world's largest economy, despite hurricanes Katrina and Rita, on the back of strong spending from consumers and the government.
"We're hitting stops since the euro is down 40 ticks and third quarter GDP was much better than expected," said a COMEX floor trader who added that a mix of independent brokers and investment funds had been active so far in the morning.
Gold later trimmed losses a bit after a report by the University of Michigan saying US consumer sentiment fell to a reading of 74.2 in October from 75.4 a month earlier.
Gold has renewed its normal link to the greenback in recent days, and with the currency relatively steady in the last week some fund long liquidation was weighing on the market.
Spot gold fell to $469.90/470.60 an ounce, from Thursday's New York close at $473.50/474.30. Friday's morning fix in London by bullion dealers was $473.65.
December silver slumped 6.0 cents to $7.78 an ounce, trading from $7.885-7.765. The October 11 high of $7.955 marked the loftiest level for silver since December 2004.
Spot silver was at $7.73/76 an ounce, off from the last late quote at $7.79/82. Bullion dealers fixed the spot reference price at $7.79.
NYMEX December palladium shed 95 cents to stand at $228 an ounce, backing away from Thursday's peak of $234, which marked the highest for futures since June 2004. Spot palladium fetched $220/224.
January platinum rose $3.10 to $947 an ounce. Thursday's peak at $953.50 was the highest level for futures since April 2004.
Spot platinum traded at $938/942. On Thursday, the market in London hit a near 26-year high at $947.