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By Bloomberg

Gold dropped for a third day after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed that some policy makers favored raising interest rates in June. Silver retreated for a fourth day.

Bullion for immediate delivery fell 0.3 percent to $1,198.97 an ounce by 9:15 a.m. in Singapore after losing 0.6 percent on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. Gold in Shanghai slumped the most in a week.

Gold was little changed last quarter as investors tried to gauge when the Fed would start raising borrowing costs for the first time since 2006. Higher rates curb the allure of bullion, which generally offers returns only through price gains. While several Fed participants judged the data and outlook were likely to warrant beginning normalization in June, others argued for an increase later this year or in 2016, minutes of the March 17-18 Federal Open Market Committee session showed.

“Opinions from the FOMC minutes on when they might first start to raise rates remain split, but the removal of ‘patient’ suggests they are slowly inching closer to sometime later this year,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said in a note. “What seems clearer at present is that the pace of rate rises is likely to be gradual.”

At the FOMC gathering, some members said energy-price declines and a stronger dollar would continue to curb inflation, arguing for a rate rise later in the year than June, according to the minutes. A couple said the economy probably wouldn’t be ready for tighter policy until 2016.

Silver Drop

The FOMC said job gains had been “strong” and labor- market conditions had “improved further” even as growth moderated. Since then, data showed payrolls climbed 126,000 in March, breaking a yearlong run of monthly gains above 200,000.

Gold for June delivery retreated 0.4 percent to $1,198.10 on the Comex. Bullion of 99.99 percent purity fell 1.1 percent to 239.20 yuan a gram ($1,199.14 an ounce) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, set for the biggest decline since March 31.

Silver for immediate delivery dropped 0.7 percent to $16.4165 an ounce after losing 3.1 percent in the first three days of this week. Platinum lost 0.6 percent to $1,158.75 an ounce, while palladium lost 0.1 percent to $755.25 an ounce.