• Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Thursday as the U.S. dollar, U.S. equities, and U.S. economic data all showed strength.
The most active gold contract for March delivery fell 2.7 U.S. dollars, or 0.22 percent, to settle at 1,236.80 dollars per ounce.
• Gold has slipped from a three-month high in the previous session after robust US economic data pointed to a stronger economy, increasing the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates.
• The precious metal was put under pressure as the U.S. Dollar Index rose by 0.41 percent to 100.58 as of 1745 GMT. The index is a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies. Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.
• Gold was put under pressure as the weekly jobless claims report released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday showed new claims falling by 12,000 to a 234,000 level, a figure which analysts note was far better-than-expected and below even the most optimistic estimates of the consensus range.
• Additionally, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard spoke at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, at the beginning of the trading day. Bullard indicated that he believes that the interest rate can remain low throughout 2017.
• U.S. interest rates can likely remain low through at least 2017, with no clear sense yet of whether the Trump administration's policies will spark higher inflation or growth, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said on Thursday.
Investors believe the Fed may raise rates from 0.75 to 1.00 during the May FOMC meeting at the earliest. According to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to at least 0.75 is at 9 percent at the March meeting and 28 percent for the May meeting.
• "We see gold as relatively underpriced, given the rally in commodities and high level of political uncertainty," said Hamza Khan at ING. Khan said that gold could rise as high as $US1,350 an ounce before too long, having seen jumps of $US10 a day.
• Gold fell on Friday to extend losses of nearly 1 percent from the previous session, with the dollar firming following robust U.S. economic data that boosted expectations of a U.S. rate hike.
Spot gold <XAU=> was down 0.6 percent at $1,223 per ounce by 0110 GMT. On Wednesday, the metal touched its highest since Nov. 11 at $1,244.67.
• Silver for March delivery rose 3.6 cents, or 0.20 percent, to close at 17.741 dollars per ounce.
Reference: Xinhua, Business News, Reuters
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