Investing.com - Gold futures traded slightly lower in the early part of Thursday’s Asian session despite supportive comments from the World Gold Council.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery inched down 0.02% to USD1,391.55 per troy ounce in Asian trading Thursday after closing up 0.61% at USD1,388.15 a troy ounce in U.S. trading on Wednesday.
Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,373.25 a troy ounce, Tuesday's low, and resistance at USD1,401.05, Tuesday's high.
A decent U.S. data point helped suppress the dollar while boosting gold a bit on Wednesday. In U.S. economic news, mortgage applications fell 9% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The market composite index was down 8.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week while the refinancing index dropped 12%.
The World Gold Council said Wednesday that second-quarter demand for bullion in Asia will reach a record as consumers take advantage of fresh supply that has come to market as investors have dumped shares of numerous gold-backed exchange traded funds.
The WGC said that even if U.S. investors continue to liquidate holdings of ETFs such as the SPDR Gold Shares, that gold will be consumed by buyers in China, India and the Middle East.
Indian imports of gold are expected to be 350-400 tons this quarter, up from 256 tons in the first quarter. The WGC added its expects Indian imports to be at the upper end of its 2013 forecast of 865-965 tons.
China imported 160-170 tons of gold last month, according to the WGC.
Elsewhere, Comex silver for July deliver fell 0.09% to USD22.433 per ounce while copper for July delivery dropped 0.30% to USD3.288 per ounce.