Spot gold had eased 0.1 percent to $1,276.40 per ounce at 0322 GMT. The precious metal climbed 1.3 percent in the previous session, its biggest gain since mid-May, and touched $1,278.66 an ounce, it highest level since June 14.
• "(Safe-haven demand) has settled down to a certain extent, but the market is still expecting more news to come," said Brian Lan, managing director at gold dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.
"North Korea doesn't seem like they're going to back down and the U.S. has also made a very strong stance this time."
• "Investors tend to be more cautious ahead of economic data, especially when the prices are high. They might take profits first and wait to see what's going to happen before they move into the market again," said GoldSilver's Lan.
• Asian stocks steadied and U.S. Treasury bond prices fell slightly on Thursday as the risk aversion triggered by tensions between the United States and North Korea began to settle.
• "Amid all the sabre-rattling, we expect gold prices to continue to move higher and likely cross the $1,300 an ounce mark in relative short order," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
• In other precious metals, silver was nearly flat at $16.90 per ounce after hitting its highest since June 15 earlier in the session.
• Analysts have noted that gold has been resilient in the early start of the second half because of Federal Reserve monetary policy uncertainty.
Some commodity analysts are bullish on gold, noting that prices could push back above $1,300 an ounce as they expect the U.S. central bank to take a pause in its new raising cycle.
Reference: Reuters, Kitco
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