Investing.com - Gold futures continued to trade near eight-month lows on Friday, as speculation that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than anticipated continued to weigh on the precious metal.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery traded at $1,238.40 a troy ounce during early European trade, down 0.05%.
The December contract settled 0.51% lower on Thursday to end at $1,239.0 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at $1,204.30 an ounce and resistance at $1,251.00, Thursday's high.
Gold prices weakened after a study by the San Francisco Federal Reserve suggested that investors' expectations for rate hikes lag those of the Fed.
The research published earlier in the week underlined expectations that the Fed could signal a rate hike at its policy meeting next week, possibly by omitting mention of its commitment to keep rates low for a "considerable time".
The precious metal found some support however, after U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday in an address to the nation that the U.S. would conduct a "systematic campaign" of airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria.
In addition, the U.S. on Thursday said it will join the European Union in stiffening sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, prompting the government in Moscow to threaten retaliation.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery edged up 0.15% to trade at $18.627 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery slipped 0.16% to trade at $3.089 a pound.