Investing.com - Gold futures was little changed on Friday, as Thursday's strong U.S. economic reports still lent support to the dollar but concerns over ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine prompted investors to hold on to the safe-haven commodity.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery traded at $1,291.00 a troy ounce during early European trade, up 0.03%.
The December contract settled 0.55% higher on Thursday to end at $1,290.4 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at $1,277.70 an ounce, the low from August 26 and resistance at $1,299.30, the high from August 20.
The dollar strengthened on Thursday after preliminary data showed that U.S. gross domestic product expanded by 4.2% in the second quarter, beating expectations for growth of 3.9%.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 22 declined by 1,000 to 298,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 299,000.
The strong data confirmed Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's comments at Jackson Hole last week saying that the U.S. economy is recovering and the labor market is improving.
Meanwhile, market participants continued to monitor developments in Ukraine after the country's President Petro Poroshenko called an emergency security meeting to defend against what he called a Russian "invasion" on Thursday.
The decision came as separatists gained ground in intensified fighting in eastern regions.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery slipped 0.08% to trade at $19.587 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery rose 0.30% to trade at $3.162 a pound.