Investing.com - Gold prices drifted lower on Thursday to move further away from their strongest level in seven weeks as investors looked ahead to a key batch of U.S. economic data to gauge how it will impact the Federal Reserve's view on monetary policy.
Comex gold futures for August were at $1,261.11 a troy ounce by 3:10AM ET (0710GMT), down $10.60, or about 0.8%. It touched its highest since June 14 at $1,273.30 earlier this week.
Prices of the yellow metal ended marginally lower on Wednesday, as a recent rally showed signs of fatigue.
Gold has been well-supported in recent weeks as fading expectations for a third Fed rate hike this year combined with deepening political turmoil in the White House boosted the appeal of the precious metal.
Investors were turning their attention to upcoming U.S. economic data for fresh clues on the timing of the Fed's balance sheet reduction and its ability to raise interest rates again this year.
Thursday's data includes weekly jobless claims at 8:30AM ET (1230GMT), followed by the ISM non-manufacturing survey at 10AM ET (1400GMT). Factory orders are also released at 10AM.
The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for July is due out on Friday.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver futures slumped 22.1 cents, or around 1.3%, to $16.51 a troy ounce.
Among other precious metals, platinum was down 0.4% at $950.00, while palladium shed 0.7% to $885.60 an ounce.