(RTTNews) - The price of gold was firm around its four-week high Thursday morning as the U.S. dollar was struggling to sustain recent gains versus a basket of currencies.
Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, moved up $4.20 to $1,612.30 an ounce. Yesterday, gold advanced back near a four-week high as the euro gained after reports quoting European Central Bank council member Ewald Nowotny as saying that there are arguments in favor of giving Europe's rescue fund a banking license.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved down to 1,252.53 tons from 1,254.64 tons.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar continued to level off from its 2-year high versus the euro, while hovering near a two-week high against sterling. The buck was lingering near a two-month low versus the yen and slipped near a weekly low against the Swiss franc.
The euro surged higher amid reports that European Central Bank governor Mario Draghi, in a speech at the Global Investment Conference, vowed that the central bank will do whatever is needed to preserve the euro.
In economic news from the euro zone, German consumer confidence is set to rise modestly in August despite the growing tensions surrounding the Eurozone's economic prospects, a survey by Market research group GfK revealed. GfK's consumer confidence index for August rose to 5.9 from 5.8 in July. Economists expected the index to remain at the July level.
The price of silver was little changed, while platinum was moving higher in morning deals.
From the U.S., the Labor Department will release its jobless claims report for the week ended July 21 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect claims to edge down to 380,000 in the recent reporting week from 386,000 in the previous week.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Department is set to release its durable goods orders report. Economists expect a 0.6 percent increase in durable goods orders for June following a 1.3 percent increase in the previous months. Excluding transportation, orders may have risen 0.2 percent.
Later during the session, data on pending home sales, which is a leading indicator of housing market activity will be released by the National Association of Realtors. The index is expected to have risen 0.9 percent in June, slower than the 5.9 percent increase in the previous month.
