Investing.com - Gold prices eased in Asia on Friday ahead of key U.S. November jobs data that is expected to set the tone for a decision by the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back its stimulus programs within the coming months.
Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases aim to drive recovery by pushing down long-term interest rates, weakening the dollar in the process, and talk of their dismantling often strengthens the greenback.
Gold and the dollar tend to trade inversely with one another.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1,227.20 a troy ounce, down 0.38%, after hitting an overnight session low of USD1,216.70 a troy ounce and high of USD1,243.30 a troy ounce.
On Thursday, U.S. gross domestic product increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.6% in the three months to September, well above expectations for growth of 3.0% and up from a preliminary estimate of 2.8%, according to Commerce Department data released earlier.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 from 321,000 in the previous week, whose figure was revised up from 316,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 325,000 last week.
Government data also showed that U.S. factory orders fell 0.9% in October, less than the expected 1% decline after an upwardly revised 1.8% increase the previous month.
Gold also fell after the European Central Bank said it was its holding benchmark interest rate at 0.25%, as expected.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said monetary policy will remain accommodative for as long as necessary and added that interest rates are likely to remain at current or lower levels for an extended period of time.
Still, Draghi gave no indication over whether or not the ECB will introduce negative interest rates, which sent the euro rising.
Also supporting paper currencies and depressing demand for gold, the Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted to leave rates on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing stimulus package.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery was down 0.80% at USD19.413 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery was up 0.10% and trading at USD3.224 a pound.
Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases aim to drive recovery by pushing down long-term interest rates, weakening the dollar in the process, and talk of their dismantling often strengthens the greenback.
Gold and the dollar tend to trade inversely with one another.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1,227.20 a troy ounce, down 0.38%, after hitting an overnight session low of USD1,216.70 a troy ounce and high of USD1,243.30 a troy ounce.
On Thursday, U.S. gross domestic product increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.6% in the three months to September, well above expectations for growth of 3.0% and up from a preliminary estimate of 2.8%, according to Commerce Department data released earlier.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 from 321,000 in the previous week, whose figure was revised up from 316,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 325,000 last week.
Government data also showed that U.S. factory orders fell 0.9% in October, less than the expected 1% decline after an upwardly revised 1.8% increase the previous month.
Gold also fell after the European Central Bank said it was its holding benchmark interest rate at 0.25%, as expected.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said monetary policy will remain accommodative for as long as necessary and added that interest rates are likely to remain at current or lower levels for an extended period of time.
Still, Draghi gave no indication over whether or not the ECB will introduce negative interest rates, which sent the euro rising.
Also supporting paper currencies and depressing demand for gold, the Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted to leave rates on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing stimulus package.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery was down 0.80% at USD19.413 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery was up 0.10% and trading at USD3.224 a pound.