Gold futures maintain losses after U.S. CPI, jobless claims data

Investing.com - Gold prices remained lower on Thursday, after data showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week and that consumer prices were unchanged in October.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery lost $1.60, or 0.13%, to trade at $1,192.30 a troy ounce during U.S. morning hours.

Futures were likely to find support at $1,146.00, the low from November 14, and resistance at $1,204.10, the high from November 18.

The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 15 decreased by 2,000 to 291,000 from the previous week's revised total of 293,000.

Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 7,000 to 286,000 last week.

A separate report showed that U.S. consumer prices were flat last month, compared to estimates for a decline of 0.1% and following a gain of 0.1% in September.

Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy costs, increased by 0.2% in October, in line with expectations. Core consumer prices inched up 0.1% in September.

Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest meeting indicated that officials believe the economic recovery is strong enough to withstand external threats to growth.

Fed officials largely agreed that the economy was improving and no longer needed stimulus tools such as asset purchases, though concerns persisted that inflation expectations may be dipping, according to the minutes released Wednesday.

While the minutes offered little additional clarity about when rates could start to rise, markets continued to bet that the U.S. central bank will start raising rates sometime around September 2015.

Expectations of higher borrowing rates going forward is considered bearish for gold, as the precious metal struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when rates are on the rise.

A day earlier, gold prices retreated $3.20, or 0.27%, to settle at $1,193.90 an ounce, after a poll showed weaker support among Swiss voters for a referendum that would require the Swiss National Bank to boost its gold reserves.

Support for the "Save our Swiss gold" proposal declined to 38% in a poll released Wednesday, down from 44% in a survey conducted last month.

Swiss voters go to the polls on November 30 to decide whether the SNB would have to hold at least 20% of its assets in the precious metal, up from 8% now.

Also on the Comex, silver futures for December delivery slumped 14.1 cents, or 0.87%, to trade at $16.15 a troy ounce.

Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for December delivery sank 3.0 cents, or 1%, to trade at $3.015 a pound, as concerns over the global economy mounted following the release of disappointing manufacturing data out of China and the euro zone.

Research group Markit reported that the euro zone’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 50.4 in November from 50.6 in October.

The report said the PMI surveys pointed to economic growth of just 0.1% to 0.2% in the current quarter.

Germany private sector activity fell to a 16-month low this month, as factory output stalled. The country’s manufacturing PMI fell to 50 and service sector activity also slowed, with the PMI dropping to 52.1 from 54.4.

French private sector output contracted for the seventh consecutive month, with the manufacturing PMI falling to a three-month low of 47.6 and the services PMI ticking up to 48.8 from 48.3 in October, still well below the 50 level showing contraction.

Meanwhile, in China, data showed that China’s preliminary HSBC manufacturing index slumped to a six-month low of 50.0 in November from 50.4 in October and below forecasts for 50.3.

The data showed that the level of output in factories contracted for the first time in six months in November, underlining concerns over a cooling economy.