The price of gold was little changed Friday morning as the US dollar was trading mixed ahead of jobs data.
Gold for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, edged up $1.70 to $1,576.80 an ounce. Yesterday, gold settled marginally higher on a weak dollar even as the euro surged after the European Central Bank maintained its lending rate unchanged. Investors also weighed some mixed macroeconomic data out of the U.S., while reflecting on ECB President Mario Draghi's comments on euro area growth. The European Central Bank held its key interest rate at 0.75 percent, with Draghi exuding optimism for a recovery in the recession-hit euro area economy later this year, even as the central bank staff cut their growth projections. Draghi, however, said the central bank will continue to be accommodative in its monetary policy.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, edged down to 1,243.05 tons from 1,244.86 tons.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was ticking lower versus the euro and sterling, while extending its two-and- half year high versus the yen. The buck was ticking lower against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, Germany's industrial output remained flat in January from a month ago, when it was up 0.6 percent, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology said. Output was forecast to grow by 0.4 percent. On a yearly basis, industrial production slipped by working-day adjusted 1.3 percent, sharper than the 0.5 percent fall seen in the previous month. The rate of decrease slightly exceeded a 1.2 percent drop forecast by economists.
Elsewhere, the price of silver was flat, while platinum was moving higher in morning deals.
From the U.S., the Labor Department will release its non-farm payrolls report for February at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect that the economy added 171,000 jobs in the month, faster than the 157,000 pace witnessed in January. The unemployment rate may have edged down to 7.8 percent.
The Commerce Department will release its wholesale inventories report for January at 10 a.m. ET. The consensus estimates call for a 0.4 percent increase in wholesale inventories compared to a 0.1 percent drop in the previous month.
