By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Friday morning in Asia, recovering from the more than one-week low hit during the previous session. Retreating U.S. bond yields and weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data also helped to counter a strengthening dollar.
Gold futures inched down 0.06% to $1,804.35 by 1:09 AM ET (5:09 AM GMT), after hitting its lowest level since Jul. 12 at $1,791.16 on Thursday. The yellow metal is down 0.2% for the past week, after posting gains during the preceding four weeks.
The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, inched up on Friday towards a three-and-a-half-month peak. U.S. Treasury yields eased on Thursday after an auction of $16 billion in 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities was bid at a record low.
Meanwhile, the latest U.S. economic data said that a higher-than-expected 419,000 initial jobless claims were filed throughout the past week, a two-month high. The figure served as a grim reminder that the job market recovery is far from over, as the country also recorded a surge in new COVID-19 cases involving the Delta variant.
On the central bank front, the European Central Bank (ECB) pledged to keep interest rates at record lows for even longer as it handed down its policy decision on Thursday. Bank Indonesia also handed down its policy decision on Thursday, while the U.S. Federal Reserve will meet in the following week to hand down its latest policy decision.
In other precious metals, silver eased 0.1% to $25.42 per ounce, palladium rose 0.3% and platinum was flat at $1,092.44.