(RTTNews) - The price of gold moved down Thursday morning as the dollar firmed up ahead of weekly jobless claims data.
Gold for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, was down $8.80 to $1,356.70 an ounce.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved down to 1,226.44 tons from 1,228.56 tons.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was paring its recent losses versus the euro and ticking higher against sterling, the Swiss Franc and the yen.
The Bank of England today left its key interest rates unchanged at 0.5 percent, as widely expected. Earlier today, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed UK factory output declined in December for the first time in eight months due to adverse weather. Manufacturing output dropped 0.1 percent on a monthly basis in December. Economists were expecting a 0.4 percent increase following a 0.6 percent increase in November.
Elsewhere, the prices of silver and platinum edged down in morning deals.
Traders will look to the weekly jobless claims report from the U.S. Labor Department due out 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect claims to come in at 412,000 for the week from previous week's number of 415,000.
