LONDON, April 25 - Gold ticked lower in European trading on Friday, awaiting the release of key U.S. economic data, dealers said. Spot gold was quoted at $333.10/333.90 an ounce at 0953 GMT, down from $334.40/335.20 at the New York close on Thursday. Gold hit $336.00 this week, its firmest level since April 1, as the dollar lost ground against the euro . "In the short term, gold does not look likely to trade outside of $330-340 and more consolidation is expected, as it is still lacking momentum," said Standard Bank London in a report. "Likely catalysts for major movement in price would be adverse news about the Korean tension, or the U.S. economy in whichever way it turns in any drastic fashion," it said. Investors braced for another heavy bunch of U.S. data later in the day, including real first-quarter GDP growth and new U.S. home sales for March.
Markets will also pay close attention to the final University of Michigan consumer confidence survey for April, which investors expect to show signs of improvement after the uncertainty linked to the conflict in Iraq was lifted. Wall Street economists predict the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.3 percent annual rate after sluggish 1.4 percent growth in 2002's fourth quarter. Analysts were also assessing whether Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the flu-like virus called SARS that has killed more than 200 people in Hong Kong and China and infected thousands, would curtail economic activity in China, a major market for many commodities including platinum and gold. "The same factors continue to support the gold price: the weak US dollar resulting from the mixed economic data from the U.S. yesterday and the growing fears over the situation in North Korea," said Barclays Capital in a report.
"We expect gold to continue to trade towards the upper end of its recent $332-335 range," it said. In other precious metals, silver was quoted at $4.63/4.65 an ounce, unchanged from late New York trading. "Silver looks set to consolidate between $4.60 to $4.70," said Standard Bank London. Spot platinum was quoted at $633/637 an ounce from $634.50/639.50 and palladium at $148/152 from $153/158.//