• Gold was flat on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar weakened and investors awaited the minutes of the most recent U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting for clues on the pace of further interest rate hikes this year.
• Spot gold was unchanged at $1,256.15 ounce by 1:36 p.m. EDT (1736 GMT).
• U.S. gold futures for August delivery settled up $5.30, or 0.4 percent, at $1,258.80 per ounce.
• The dollar index fell to its lowest level in more than a week while the euro climbed half a percent to near three-week highs following strong German data.
• "The dollar’s down, giving some support to precious metals," said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank.
• "But the Fed minutes are what we're really waiting on to see if members are worried we'll see an overheating...or if they're going to talk about all the trade tensions and the negative impact that may have over some of the numbers."
• Investors are also awaiting the release of non-farm payrolls and unemployment data on Friday.
• "One would not like to have any bullish bets on gold when the labor market trend is strong," ThinkMarkets chief market analyst Naeem Aslam said.
• Physical gold demand has been lackluster in India, the second-biggest gold consumer after China, Commerzbank said, lending no price support.
• Meanwhile, silver was flat at $16.05 an ounce. Palladium dropped 0.1 percent to 945.50 an ounce, while platinum declined 0.5 percent to $836 after touching its lowest since 2008 at $793 on Tuesday.
Reference: Reuters
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