Investing.com - Gold futures were higher on Friday, as investors eyed the release of U.S. home sales data later in the day, although gains remained limited as Thursday's upbeat data continued to support the dollar.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery traded at USD1,323.00 a troy ounce during European afternoon trade, up 0.46%.
The April contract settled 0.27% lower on Thursday to end at USD1,316.9 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,307.70 a troy ounce, Thursday's low and resistance at USD1,322.90, the high from February 17.
The dollar gained ground on Thursday, after the Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 3,000 to 336,000, slightly below expectations for a decline of 4,000.
The Labor Department also said U.S. consumer prices rose 1.6% on a year-over-year basis in January, in line with forecasts. Consumer prices were 0.1% higher from a month earlier, also matching forecasts.
Core consumer prices, which strip out food and energy costs, were also up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis and 0.1% from the previous month.
However, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index deteriorated to minus 6.3 this month from January’s reading of 9.4. Analysts had expected the index to inch down to 8.0 in February.
The data came after Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting indicated that that the current pace of its decrease in bond purchases would remain unchanged, so long as the economy shows signs of improvement.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery advanced 0.43% to trade at USD21.778 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery dipped 0.05% to trade at USD3.278 a pound.