Investing.com - Gold prices traded lower on Thursday, after the dollar steadied, amid a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, ahead of a key House vote on a healthcare bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Gold for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange lost $5.75 or 0.47%, to trade at $1,243.85 a troy ounce.
Gold prices pulled back from a session high of $1,253.15 in early morning U.S. trade weighed by a rise in the dollar, as new home sales data confounded expectations while initial jobless claims rose faster than expected.
The Commerce Department said on Thursday new home sales increased 6.1 % to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 units last month compared to expectations of a 0.7% increase to 565,000 units.
Elsewhere, initial jobless claims increased by 15,000 to 258,000 in the week ending March 18 from the previous week’s revised total of 243,000 against analysts’ expectations of a drop by 1,000 to 240,000.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor events on Capitol Hill, ahead of a key House vote on a healthcare bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Silver futures rose 0.02% to $17.582, a troy ounce while copper traded higher at $2.637.
Platinum fell 0.08% to $961.10 down 0.08% while Natural Gas tacked on 0.63% to trade at $3.031.