WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled lower on Thursday even as the dollar failed to hold gains with investors looking ahead to the non-farm payrolls data, due on Friday.
The dollar index, which climbed to 102.14, dropped to 101.76 past noon, and was at 101.81 a little while ago, down marginally from the previous close.
Gold futures for June ended lower by $9.20 or about 0.5% at $2,026.40 an ounce. Gold futures gained more than 2% in the week.
Silver futures for May ended up $0.056 at $25.093 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.0155 per pound, gaining $0.0290.
Data released by the Labor Department this morning showed initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 228,000 in the week ended April 1st, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level of 246,000.
Economists had expected initial jobless claims to inch up to 200,000 from the 198,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Labor Department's more closely watched employment report, due on Friday, is expected to show an addition of 240,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.6%.
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