Investing.com - Gold prices fell on Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi suggested that monetary authorities may implement fresh easing measures in June, though bargain hunting brought the yellow metal back into positive territory.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery traded at 1,290.60 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, up 0.13%, up from a session low of $1,285.70 and off a high of $1,295.50.
The June contract settled down 1.51% at $1,288.90 on Wednesday.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,275.20 a troy ounce, last Friday's low, and resistance at $1,314.70, Wednesday's high.
Dovish comments from ECB President Draghi weakened the euro earlier and bolstered the dollar, often a recipe falling gold prices, as the yellow metal tends to trade inversely with the greenback.
The European Central Bank earlier left interest rates unchanged at 0.25%, though the euro dropped after Draghi said the ECB governing council is comfortable with acting at its next meeting.
Draghi attributed weak inflation rates to food and energy prices, but added that the strong euro and weak domestic demand are also pushing down inflation.
He reiterated that the ECB does not have a target for the euro exchange rate but stressed that the bank would closely monitor exchange-rate developments.
The ECB chief said the latest data shows that the European economy is recovering, in line with the bank's forecasts, but also pointed to a prolonged period of low inflation, followed by only a gradual rise in prices.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the Department of Labor reported that number of individuals filing for unemployment assistance last week fell by 26,000 to 319,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 345,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 20,000 to 325,000, and the numbers gave the dollar support, which came at gold's expense before bottom fishing sent the metal back into positive territory.
Meanwhile, silver for July delivery was down 0.53% at $19.240 a troy ounce, while copper futures for July delivery were up 0.95% at $3.061 a pound.