Gold futures lower on ETF selling

Investing.com - Gold futures fell for the third time in four trading sessions on Thursday due to a sell off in gold based Exchange Traded Funds and strength in the U.S. job market.  

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1606.35 a troy ounce during late U.S. trade dropping 0.45%.  

It earlier hit a high of USD1618.55 and a low of 1599.65.  

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1605.01 and technical resistance exists at USD1607.81.  

Light holiday trading combined with selling in bullion based ETF's pressured the metal lower on the session  

Positive data from the U.S. employment front with jobless claims falling to the lowest level since April, 2008 increased the risk appetite triggering selling in the precious metal.  

Fears grew deeper in the euro zone as Greek lenders challenged attempts to force a lower priced bond buyback initiative to help ease the crushing sovereign debt.  

Dennis Cajigas of Zaner Group explained the gold sell off to Bloomberg, "The jobless numbers were better than expected, and we're seeing the dollar strengthen again. The U.S. economy is starting to find traction. The ETF numbers are also a factor."      

For much of the last year, investor's typical reaction to bad news from Europe was to buy gold, as its boosts safe haven appeal of the precious metal, but that relationship has unraveled recently.  

Instead, gold futures have moved largely in line with other commodities and risk assets over the past month, with investors preferring the relative safety of the U.S. dollar.  

  Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery fell by 0.41% to trade at USD29.13 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery traded higher by 0.76% to trade at USD3.42a pound.