Spot gold plumbed a two-week low of $1,260.36 an ounce and was last down 0.4 per cent at $1,261.24.
Gold fell as the latest ebb in risk aversion dented investor demand for safe-haven assets.
"All eyes are on that vote", said Ian Lyngen, a senior government bond strategist at CRT Capital in Stamford, Connecticut. Fed primary Yellen stated on Tuesday the central bank's capability to raise rate of interest this year might hinge on a rebound in employing that would encourage policymakers the United States economy isn't really failing.
"Evaluating from her comments, a rate hike in July is totally off the table".
Financial markets have been wracked for months by worries about what a potential Brexit would mean for Europe's stability, but the latest opinion polls showing the "Remain" camp holding a small lead have provided some comfort.
In the equity markets, London's FTSE was up 0.6 percent and neck and neck with German's DAX at the top of the European leader board, both of which helped push MSCI's 46-country All World index higher. Bookmakers have been predicting a much lower chance of a "Leave" vote since the murder of pro-Europe UK lawmaker Jo Cox last week.
Brent crude oil fell back below $50 a barrel, which it past on Monday for the first time in a week in a rally driven by polls that appeared to show the "Leave" campaigns momentum weakening. It last traded at $49.97.
The so-called "Brexit" risk - or Britain exiting the 28-nation European Union - is still hanging over global financial markets ahead of Thursday's closely watched referendum.
"I think we'll hop from poll to poll... and you'd have thought that there will be another couple of wobbles before we're done", said Societe Generale macro strategist Kit Juckes.
The pound was up 0.6 per cent at $US1.4802 on Thursday after touching $US1.4847, its highest since the beginning of the year.
The Japanese currency, which is often sought by investors in times of market uncertainty, also fell 0.8 percent to 104.72 per dollar.
Yields on low risk US Treasury yields fell slightly.
Government bonds held firm with 10-year Japanese bonds yielding 0.13 percent while the spread between 10- and two-year debt also held steady at 95 basis points.
Greek bonds got only a modest lift after the European Central Bank said on Thursday it would accept them as loan collateral again but would only "examine" adding them to its 1.7 trillion- euro asset-buying programme.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Major currency volatility rose the most on record as the U.K. Brexit vote roiled markets Friday, sending the pound to the lowest in more than three decades and spurring the yen to gains between 3 percent to 12 percent against its 31 biggest counterparts.
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