The price of gold moved down to its one-month low Thursday morning, with the US dollar trading steady versus a basket of currencies ahead of the release of inflation numbers.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, lost $25.30 to $1,370.90 an ounce. Yesterday, gold extended losses to settle below the $,1400-mark for the first time in nearly one month after the dollar trended higher against a basket of major currencies and a slew of soft economic data from the U.S. and Europe. The precious metal was also impacted by restrictions on gold imports in India, even as global equity markets continued to push higher.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved down to 1,047.13 tons from 1,051.65 tons.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was hovering near its 6-week high versus the euro and its 3-week high against sterling. The buck was steady around its 4-year high versus the yen, while trading around its 10-month high against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone inflation slowed as initially estimated to 1.2 percent in April from 1.7 percent in March, final data from Eurostat showed. Month-on-month, prices were down 0.1 percent. Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, fell to 1 percent from 1.5 percent a month ago.
Separately, the Eurostat said euro zone's trade surplus more than doubled in March from a month ago. The surplus amounted to EUR 22.9 billion in March, higher than EUR 10.1 billion in February. In March 2012, the balance was positive at EUR 6.9 billion.
Elsewhere, the prices of silver and platinum were moving lower morning deals.
From the U.S., the Labor Department will release its consumer price inflation report for April at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect monthly consumer price inflation of a negative 0.3 percent and a core inflation rate of 0.2 percent.
Separately, the Department is due to release its jobless claims report for the week ended May 11. Economists expect claims to have increased to 330,000 from 323,000 in the previous week.
Around the same time, the Commerce Department is due to release its housing starts report for April. The consensus expectations call for housing starts to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 969,000 in April, while building permits are estimated at 945,000.
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