Investing.com - Gold prices edged lower on Thursday, as market players looked ahead to the release of key U.S. data later in the session for further indications on the strength of the economy and the future path of monetary policy.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at $1,239.80 a troy ounce during European morning hours, down $5.70, or 0.46%.
A day earlier, gold prices lost $6.20, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,245.50 a troy ounce.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,222.00, the low from October 15, and resistance at $1,255.60, the high from October 21.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for December delivery shed 11.1 cents, or 0.64%, to trade at $17.12 a troy ounce.
The U.S. will release the weekly report on initial jobless claims later Thursday, after last week's report showed that new filings for unemployment benefits fell to 264,000, the lowest since 2000.
While analysts expected jobless claims to rise to 282,000 this week, another reading below 300,000 would probably make forecasters upbeat about October non-farm payrolls.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for December delivery inched up 1.8 cents, or 0.61%, to trade at $3.036 a pound.
Copper prices found support after data showed that manufacturing output in the euro zone expanded at the fastest rate in three months in October.
Europe as a region is third in global demand for the industrial metal.
Earlier Thursday, data showed that China’s HSBC manufacturing PMI edged up to 50.4 this month from 50.2 last month, only just above forecasts for 50.3.
Despite the improvement in the headline number, the level of output in factories fell to a five-month low of 50.7 this month, underlining concerns over a cooling economy.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.