Spot gold rose to $463.75/464.50 in afternoon trade from $462.70/463.50 an ounce, last quoted in New York on Wednesday, when the metal rebounded on short covering after a two-day losing streak.
Japan was out of action because of the Culture Day holiday, while markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were closed for the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration.
The benchmark October gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange ended at 1,740 yen per gram on Wednesday, down 17 yen or 0.97 percent from Tuesday's settlement.
"I think we are in for a quiet day. $462-$465 is probably the range. Dollar will probably be the main drive," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at N M Rothschild in Sydney.
The euro was steady at around $1.2063, having risen in New York on talk the European Central Bank might signal that it intends to tighten monetary policy at a meeting on Thursday.
Reports of possible terror attacks in Australia had little immediate impact on the market.
But a geopolitical crisis could attract some investors towards gold's allure as a safe-haven asset. The metal saw safe-haven buying after the bombings in London which killed 52 people.
The Australian government warned of a possible "terrorist threat" and the country's newspapers said it was prompted by fears that home-grown extremists were moving closer to attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
"I think we will be foolish to think it won't happen. It will ultimately have effect on the market. So, we are just going to be prepared for that," said Rothschild's Heathcote.
The physical sector saw some buying interest in Hong Kong, a key bullion trading city in East Asia.
"We've see some sporadic buying from physical buyers and bargain hunters but the volume is pretty thin," said one dealer in Hong Kong.
"It seems there's still good support at above $460, so I think sentiment has become a little bit positive," he said.
Some other dealers said the market was still at the mercy of fund managers, who had pushed up the price of gold to a near-18-year high of $480.25 an ounce on October 12 on worries about rising energy costs.
Silver rose to $7.53/7.55 an ounce from New York's $7.51/7.54 an ounce.
Platinum slipped to $932/936 an ounce from $933/936 late in New York. Sister metal palladium was unchanged at $222/226 an ounce.