Investing.com - Gold futures were hovering near more than one-month lows on Friday, still weighed by Thursday's report showing that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to the lowest level since February 2006.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for August delivery traded at $1,293.20 a troy ounce during European afternoon trade, adding 0.19%.
The August contract settled 1.07% lower on Thursday to end at $1,290.8 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at $1,376.20 an ounce, the low from June 19 and resistance at $1,311.80, the high from July 23.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 19 declined by 19,000 to 284,000, from the previous week’s total of 303,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 5,000 to 308,000 last week.
The data fuelled speculation over the timing of a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Traders also continued to monitor developments in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Pro-Russian rebels shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets on Wednesday, not far from where the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane was brought down in eastern Ukraine late last week. Separately, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation on Thursday following turmoil in the government.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery rose 0.31% to trade at $20.483 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery dipped 0.04% to trade at $3.265 a pound.