VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices continued to move lower Friday, extending losses from the final few sessions of 2014 as the dollar rocketed to its highest in four years versus the euro.
The euro tumbled when European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hinted to a German paper that the ECB may soon back full-scale quantitative easing.
Gold was down 7 dollars at $1777 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On the economic front, Markit is scheduled to release its final U.S. manufacturing activity data for December at 9:45 am ET. The consensus estimate calls for a downward revision to 54 from the flash estimate of 54.8, although representing an increase from 53.7 in November.
The Institute for Supply Management is due to release the results of its national manufacturing survey for December at 10 am ET. Economists expect the index to slip to 57.5 from 58.7 in November.
Around the same time, the Commerce Department will release its construction spending report for November. Economists estimate construction spending growth of 0.5 percent month-over-month following a 1.1 percent climb in the previous month.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX