Forexpros - Gold futures held steady in rangebound trade during European morning hours on Thursday, as investors took to the sidelines ahead of monetary policy decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England later in the day.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery traded at USD1,617.95 a troy ounce during early European trade, dipping 0.25%.
The August contract traded in between a tight range of USD1,619.35 a troy ounce, the daily high and a session low of USD1,613.65 a troy ounce. Prices hit a two-week high of USD1,625.65 a troy ounce on July 3.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,551.35 a troy ounce, the low from June 29 and near-term resistance at USD1,634.25, the high from June 19.
U.S. markets reopen Thursday after being closed Wednesday for the Independence Day holiday.
The ECB was widely expected to announce an interest rate cut to 0.75% from the current record low 1.00% to help bolster growth in the region, following a recent string of weak economic data.
The ECB rate announcement was to be followed by a press conference with central bank head Mario Draghi to outline the reasons for the monetary policy decision and discuss the economic outlook for the euro area.
Also Thursday, Spain was to hold an auction of three- and 10-year government bonds, amid concerns over rising borrowing costs.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England was also set to update markets on its policy later in the day, amid hopes the central bank could increase the size of its government bond-buying program.
Market players were also eyeing Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, amid speculation that the Federal Reserve could implement a third round of quantitative easing to shore up the economy, which has been hit by the ongoing crisis in the euro zone.
On Thursday, payroll processing firm ADP publishes its report on non-farm employment change, followed by government data on unemployment claims.
Gold traders will be closely watching U.S. data in the second quarter for clues as to the likelihood of a fresh round of monetary easing, which could potentially hurt the dollar and support gold.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery declined 0.3% to trade at USD28.20 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery fell 0.95% to trade at USD3.506 a pound.
