Gold prices down slightly in early Asia in thin trade

Investing.com - Gold prices dipped slightly in Asia on Friday with early trade thin ahead of the end of the trading week.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery eased 0.08% to $1,193.30 a troy ounce.

Elsewhere in metals trading, silver futures for May delivery rose 0.06% to $15.838 a troy ounce, while copper futures for May delivery sagged 0.20% to $2.692 a pound.

Overnight, gold prices edged lower on Thursday, but gains were expected to remain limited as disappointing manufacturing activity data from China weighed and Wednesday's U.S. home sales data continued to support the dollar.

The dollar turned broadly lower against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, after data showed that U.S. jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week and that U.S. new home sales dropped far more than expected in March.

The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 18 increased by 1,000 to 295,000 from the previous week’s total of 294,000.

Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 290,000 last week.

Data also showed that U.S. new home sales dropped 11.4% last month to 481,000 units after a revised 5.6% increase to 541,000 in February. Analysts had expected new home sales to fall 5.3% to 513,000

The single currency showed little reaction to a report by market research group Markit saying that the euro zone's composite purchasing managers' index, which includes manufacturing and services activity, fell to 53.5 this month from 54.0 in March, compared to expectations for a rise to 54.4.

Germany's manufacturing PMI ticked down to 54.2 this month from a reading of 55.4 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 54.4 in April from 55.4 the previous month.

Markit also said that France's manufacturing PMI fell to 48.4 this month from 48.8 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 50.8 in April from a reading of 52.4 the previous month.

Earlier Thursday, another report showed that Spain's unemployment rate rose to 23.8% in the first quarter from 23.7% in the three months to December. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to slip to 23.6% in the last quarter.