Investing.com - Gold prices shook off earlier losses to trade modestly higher on Wednesday, after the New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions contracted unexpectedly in April, adding to concerns over the strength of the economy.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery hit a session low of $1,188.50 a troy ounce, before trading at $1,193.50 during U.S. morning hours, up $1.10, or 0.09%.
A day earlier, gold touched $1,183.50, a level not seen since April 1, before ending at $1,192.60, down $6.70, or 0.56%.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,180.50, the low from April 1, and resistance at $1,209.30, the high from April 13.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index decreased to -1.2 this month from a reading of 6.9 in March. Analysts had expected the index to inch up to 7.0 in April.
The disappointing data sparked fresh concerns over the strength of the economy, fuelling speculation that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.3% to trade at 99.30 after the data, off an intraday peak of 99.58..
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver futures for May delivery shed 0.8 cents, or 0.05%, to trade at $16.15 a troy ounce, while copper for May delivery dipped 1.5 cents, or 0.56%, to trade at $2.685 a pound.
Official data released earlier showed that China’s economy grew 7.0% in the first quarter, in line with forecasts and down from growth of 7.3% in the preceding quarter. It was the slowest pace of growth since the global financial crisis in 2008.
A separate report showed that industrial production rose by an annualized rate of 5.6% in March, below expectations for a 6.9% increase and following a gain of 6.8% in the preceding month.
Data on retail sales and fixed asset investment also fell short of forecasts, indicating that China needs to act to prevent a further slowdown in the economy.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption.