Investing.com - Gold prices trimmed gains on Wednesday, as investors digested a flurry of mixed U.S. economic data.
Market players have closely been looking out for U.S. data reports recently to gauge if they will strengthen or weaken the case for the Federal Reserve to scale back stimulus.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1,244.00 a troy ounce during U.S. morning trade, up 0.2%.
Comex gold prices held in a range between USD1,240.95 a troy ounce and USD1,254.10 a troy ounce.
The February contract ended little changed on Tuesday to settle at USD1,241.50 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,226.40 a troy ounce, the low from November 25 and resistance at USD1,257.85, the high from November 25.
The University of Michigan said its index of overall consumer sentiment was revised up to 75.1 in November from a preliminary estimate of 72.0. Economists had expected the index to be revised up to 73.5.
The report was released two days in advance due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
A separate report showed that manufacturing activity in the Chicago-area expanded at a faster rate than expected in November.
Earlier Wednesday, the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week declined by 10,000 to a two month low of 316,000. Economists had forecast an increase of 4,000.
The jobs data was released one day early due to the U.S. holiday.
The upbeat data offset a report showing that U.S. durable goods orders fell 2% in October, worse than expectations for a 1.9% decline, while core durable goods orders were down 0.1%, compared to expectations for a 0.5% increase.
The data did little to alter expectations that the Federal Reserve will start to taper stimulus at one of its next few meetings.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, erased earlier losses to trade 0.1% higher at 80.72.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery shed 0.25% to trade at USD19.84 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery fell 0.75% to trade at USD3.195 a pound.
Market players have closely been looking out for U.S. data reports recently to gauge if they will strengthen or weaken the case for the Federal Reserve to scale back stimulus.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1,244.00 a troy ounce during U.S. morning trade, up 0.2%.
Comex gold prices held in a range between USD1,240.95 a troy ounce and USD1,254.10 a troy ounce.
The February contract ended little changed on Tuesday to settle at USD1,241.50 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,226.40 a troy ounce, the low from November 25 and resistance at USD1,257.85, the high from November 25.
The University of Michigan said its index of overall consumer sentiment was revised up to 75.1 in November from a preliminary estimate of 72.0. Economists had expected the index to be revised up to 73.5.
The report was released two days in advance due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
A separate report showed that manufacturing activity in the Chicago-area expanded at a faster rate than expected in November.
Earlier Wednesday, the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week declined by 10,000 to a two month low of 316,000. Economists had forecast an increase of 4,000.
The jobs data was released one day early due to the U.S. holiday.
The upbeat data offset a report showing that U.S. durable goods orders fell 2% in October, worse than expectations for a 1.9% decline, while core durable goods orders were down 0.1%, compared to expectations for a 0.5% increase.
The data did little to alter expectations that the Federal Reserve will start to taper stimulus at one of its next few meetings.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, erased earlier losses to trade 0.1% higher at 80.72.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery shed 0.25% to trade at USD19.84 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery fell 0.75% to trade at USD3.195 a pound.