The price of gold was moving lower Thursday morning, with the U.S. dollar trading mixed amid a recent batch of upbeat macroeconomic data.
Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, shed $6.10 to $1,313.40 an ounce. Yesterday, gold shed over 1 percent as investors opted for profit taking after the dollar strengthened against a select band of currencies, on some upbeat global macroeconomic data with a better-than-expected U.S. new home sales and euro zone private sector activity expansion.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, were unchanged at 929.76 tons.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar continued to level-off from its one-month low versus the euro and sterling, while trading flat against the Swiss franc and the yen.
In economic news, confidence among German businesses improved in July, reports said citing survey results from the Ifo Institute. The Ifo business climate index rose to 106.2 in July from 105.9 in June. Economists expected an increase to 106.1. The current conditions index advanced to 110.1 in July from 109.4 in June. This was expected to rise modestly to 109.7. The expectations index, however, fell slightly to 102.4 from 102.5 in June.
Euro zone money supply growth eased unexpectedly in June, and the decline in loans to private sector worsened further, official data revealed. According to European Central Bank, M3 money supply grew only 2.3 percent annually, slower than the last month's 2.9 percent increase and the expected 3 percent growth.
The U.K. economy expanded at a faster pace as expected in the second quarter on a widespread support from production, construction and services. The increase in GDP doubled to 0.6 percent from 0.3 percent in the first quarter, preliminary estimate published by the Office for National Statistics showed. The growth rate matched expectations.
Elsewhere, the prices of silver and platinum were trading lower in morning deals.
From the U.S., the Labor Department will release its jobless claims report for the week ended July 20th. Economists expect claims to have increased to 341,000 from 334,000 in the previous week.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its durable goods orders report for June. Economists expect durable goods order growth of 1.5 percent month-over-month in June. Excluding transportation, orders may have risen 0.6 percent.
