Spot gold was little changed at $1,346.10 an ounce by 0401 GMT.
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Gold was steady on Thursday, after dipping 0.3 per cent in the prior session, as the dollar remained weak and investors awaited cues on monetary stimulus from a European Central Bank policy meeting due later in the day. USA gold futures rose 0.2 percent to $1,351.70 “While weaker-than-expected USA economic data over the past week point to diminished market-expected probability of a rate hike in September, we believe that the outlook for gold price movements is likely to be mildly bearish over the rest of 2016”, said NAB analyst Vyanne Lai.
“The U.S. dollar remains the key factor driving the gold price”, said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney.
Gold prices reversed gains Wednesday, weighed upon by a rising dollar. “In the absence of bullish factors, gold tends to recede rather than hold steady. Also there has been some tightening of real yields”, HSBC analyst James Steel said in a note.
“Any uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and, most importantly, a sense that the Fed will push back the next rate rise should put a near-term floor on gold prices”.
The Perth Mint’s sales of gold and silver products fell in August, in line with a trend reported by precious metal businesses worldwide, the mint said in a blog post on its website on Wednesday.
The US dollar declined versus a basket of rival currencies on Tuesday, in the aftermath of last Friday’s jobs report, which showed that the US economy added a smaller-than-expected amount of jobs in August, and lower than expected ISM non-manufacturing PMI. A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.
The dollar took a tumble and Asian stocks rose to one-year highs on Wednesday after surprisingly weak US services sector activity. Spot silver climbed 0.6 percent at $19.87.
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Bullion for immediate delivery traded at $1,349.16 an ounce at 9:37 a.m.in Singapore, after surging 1.7 percent on Tuesday, the most since the results of the Brexit vote came out on June 24, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. It hit an over-two week high in the prior session. Palladium was up 0.8 percent and touched an over two-week high of $708.40.
