By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Friday morning in Asia but was hovering close to a more-than-one-month peak reached during the previous session. An unpleasant surprise jump in the number of U.S. jobless claims also pushed gold towards a weekly gain of over 1%.
Gold futures were down 0.34% at $1,752.20 by 12:55 AM ET (4:55 AM GMT), with the yellow metal gaining nearly 1.5% for the week so far after posting losses in the previous two weeks.
Investors continue to digest U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s fresh comments defending the central bank’s dovish stance during an International Monetary Fund event on Thursday.
He added that the stance would only shift after a few consecutive months of positive data, with St. Louis Fed president James Bullard adding at a separate Southern Illinois University gathering that the central bank should not even discuss changes until there are clear signs that the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
As the Fed continued to maintain its stance, across the Atlantic the European Central Bank discussed a smaller rise in bond purchases, according to the minutes from its March meeting released on Thursday.
On the data front, jobless claims in the U.S. unexpectedly rose to 744,000, higher than the 680,000 claims in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the 728,000 claims filed during the previous week.
In other precious metals, silver was unchanged at $25.45 but headed for its biggest weekly gain in four. Palladium edged down 0.2% and while platinum fell 0.3%, it was set for its second consecutive weekly gain.