Investing.com - Gold futures were steady on Friday, trading not far from one-month highs as Thursday's disappointing U.S. jobless claims data and concerns over the euro zone's economic growth continued to support.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery traded at $1,315.10 a troy ounce during European morning trade, easing 0.05%.
The December contract settled 0.09% higher on Thursday to end at $1,315.7 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at $1,306.00 an ounce, the low from August 13 and resistance at $1,324.30, the high from August 8.
Gold prices strengthened after the U.S. Labor Department said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 9 increased by 21,000 to 311,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 290,000.
Continuing jobless claims rose to 2.544 million last week from 2.519 million the previous week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to fall to 2.500 million.
The disappointing data prompted traders to trim bets the Federal Reserve will begin raising rates in the first half of next year.
Market participants were looking ahead to upcoming U.S. reports on manufacturing activity in New York state and industrial output, as well as preliminary data on consumer sentiment for more indications on the strength of the economic recovery.
Concerns over economic growth in the euro zone also supported demand for the safe haven precious metal after preliminary data on Thursday showed the bloc's economy failed to grow in the three months to June.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery slipped 0.12% to trade at $19.883 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery added 0.19% to trade at $3.097 a pound.