Gold inches higher after U.S. surge

Investing.com - Gold futures traded slightly higher in the early part of Friday’s Asian session following an impressive showing in U.S. trade Thursday that was aided by a weaker U.S. dollar.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for September delivery inched up 0.07% to USD1,312,80 per troy ounce in Asian trading Friday. The September contract settled up 2.17% at USD1,311.90 per troy ounce in U.S. trading Thursday.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,272.10 a troy ounce, Tuesday's low, and resistance at USD1,319.85, Monday's high.

Gold’s Thursday ascent was also aided by some decent economic news out of the U.S. and the euro zone. In U.S. economic news out Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 5,000 last week to 333,000. The less volatile four-week moving average dropped to 335,500, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2007.

In Europe, Germany reported that June exports were up 0.6% from the previous month, better than expected. Germany is the euro zone’s largest economy.

The numbers sparked for demand for the euro that came at the dollar's expense, which was bullish for gold, as the yellow metal and the greenback tend to trade inversely with one another.

Riskier assets and dollar-denominated commodities have been pressured in recent days due to a raft of comments from various Federal Reserve officials indicating that they could not rule out making a decision to taper stimulus measures at the bank’s September meeting, though lackluster economic indicators out of the U.S. have some market participants betting that such a decision will come in December.

Elsewhere, Comex silver for September delivery rose 0.23% to USD20.240 per ounce while copper for September delivery added 0.18% to USD3.267 an ounce.