Investing.com - Gold prices edged higher in early morning trade on Thursday as the U.S. dollar pulled further back from a six-and-a-half month high.
At 4:54AM ET (8:54GMT), gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was up $3.00, or around 0.2%, to $1,304.50 a troy ounce.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.34% to 93.47, pulling back for a second consecutive session from Tuesday’s intraday high of 94.97, its highest level since November 7.
A weaker greenback makes the dollar-denominated metal more affordable for holders of other currencies.
The move in the dollar was seen as traders looked ahead to a slew of data due to be released on Thursday morning.
At 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT), the Commerce Department will publish data on personal income and consumer spending for April, which include the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation data.
The Fed uses core PCE as a tool to help determine whether to raise or lower interest rates, with the aim of keeping inflation at a rate of 2% or below.
Gold is sensitive to moves higher in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding precious metal.
At the same time, weekly jobless claims will be in focus, along with the Chicago purchasing managers’ index for May out at 9:45AM ET (13:45GMT) and April pending home sales just 15 minutes later.
In other metals trading, silver futures gained 0.3% at $16.590 a troy ounce by 4:59AM ET (8:59GMT).
Palladium futures rose 0.6% to $980.70 an ounce, while sister metal platinum advanced 0.5% at $913.00.
In base metals, copper fell 0.1% to $3.066 a pound.