New Delhi, March 12 -- Both gold and silver were little changed in Thursday's session, as a strong US dollar and fading expectations of near-term interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve made precious metals less attractive to investors, even as tensions in the Middle East remained high.

The April futures contract on COMEX gold dropped $64.4 to the day's low of $5,114.6 per troy ounce on 12 March, erasing nearly half of the previous session's gains. The May contract on COMEX Silver also fell, dropping $1.47 per troy ounce to reach the day's low of $84.06 earlier in the session.

The Israel-Iran conflict has entered its 13th day, with escalations showing little sign of abating as both sides continue to ramp up attacks on each other us...