Gold futures were little changed in early Wednesday trading as a weaker dollar increased the metal's investment appeal but better-than-expected U.S. economic data reduced gold's attractiveness as a safe-haven. Orders for U.S.-made durable goods rose 3.4% in February, marking the first increase after six monthly declines and the biggest gain since December 2007, the Commerce Department reported. Providing support to gold, holdings in the largest gold exchange-traded fund hit a new record. Gold for April delivery was last up $1.20, or 0.1%, at $925 an ounce in early morning trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The benchmark contract had jumped nearly $70 last Thursday to end near $960 an ounce, but has since fell about $35. "Increased risk appetite following the tackling of toxic assets and surprisingly strong economic data weighed further on precious metal sentiment," wrote James Moore, a precious metals analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Shares hit a new record of 1,124.99 tons Tuesday, up 10.7 tons from a day ago and 96 tons from a month ago, according to latest data from the fund. The monthly durable-goods figures released by the Commerce Department, although extremely volatile, are seen as key leading indicators for tracking the path of economic growth. The gain in February did not seem to be a fluke or due to one factor. Many sectors posted gains. See full story. U.S. stock futures extended their gains after the data, indicating a higher opening on Wall Street. Rising stock markets tend to reduce gold's investment appeal. In other metals, silver for May delivery fell 1.5% to $13.16 an ounce and April platinum rose 0.7% to $1,125.20 an ounce. The June contract for palladium lost 0.9% to $205.55 an ounce. May copper lost 0.9% to $1.789 a pound.

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