Investing.com - Gold prices slipped lower on Friday, as concerns over global economic growth subsided after the release of upbeat U.S. data on Thursday, although worries over the outlook for the euro zone persisted.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery traded at $1,239.80 a troy ounce during European early morning hours, down 0.11%.
The December contract settled 0.29% lower on Thursday to end at $1,241.2 a troy ounce.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,222.00, Wednesday's low and resistance at $1,250.30, Wednesday's high and a one-month high.
Demand for the safe-haven precious metal weakened after the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 11 decreased by 23,000 to a 14-year low of 264,000 from the previous week’s total of 287,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 290,000 last week.
A separate report showed that U.S. industrial production climbed 1.0% last month, beating expectations for a 0.4% rise.
Market sentiment also improved as St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said the U.S. central bank may want to maintain its bond buying for now given a drop in inflation expectations.
However, concerns over the threat of deflation in the euro zone persisted after revised data on Thursday showed that bloc's consumer price inflation rose by 0.3% in September, in line with expectations.
The rate has now been below 1% for 12 straight months, well under the European Central Bank's target of near but just under 2%.
Elsewhere in metals trading, Comex, silver for December delivery fell 0.26% to $17.392 a troy ounce, while December copper declined 0.72% to trade at $2.964 a pound.