BY ONOME AMUGE Gold prices weakened and extended losses for the third consecutive day as higher US Treasury yields and a steady US dollar dwindled investors’ appetite for the yellow metal. Spot gold slipped 0.3 percent to $1,926.80 per ounce, while US gold futures was down 0.1 percent at $1,931.20 per ounce. With the yellow metal bearish for the day while lacking any real longer-term, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, said that various asset classes are also undergoing a similar scenario, adding that rallies are failing a little earlier each time over recent weeks. Erlam however noted that there remains plenty of appetite for a safe haven and inflation hedge. Ole Hansen, analyst at Saxo Bank remarked that the recent peak seen in the US real yields is keeping the gold market fairly locked in a range. “The market remains torn between those investors looking towards gold as an offset against inflation, growth worries and high volatility in the bond market … against that we have the continued rise in yields,” Hansen stated. For other precious metals, spot silver gained 0.6 percent to $24.65 per ounce, platinum was down 0.7 percent to $980.05 per ounce, and palladium rose 1.1 percent to $2,301.82 per ounce.