Gold futures suffered their third straight loss in a row as traders digested data on U.S. private-sector employment and looked ahead to the closely watched Friday jobs report.
Gold for April delivery GCJ5, +0.28% fell $3.50, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,200.90 an ounce on Comex, after tapping a low of $1,197.70. May silver SIK5, +0.63% lost 13.8 cents, or 0.9%, to $16.158 an ounce.
Tokyo (Nikkei Average NIK, +0.12% ) up 0.2%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.57% ) down 0.6%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -1.00% ) down 1%
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.26% ) down 0.5%
Seoul (Kospi SEU, +0.06% ) up 0.1%
Taipei (Taiex Y9999, -0.15% ) down 0.1%
Hong Kong and Shanghai markets led a broad Asian sell-off on Thursday after China set tepid 2015 economic and trade growth targets, while the euro struggled to recover from 11-year lows ahead of a key European Central Bank meeting.
Wall Street provided a negative lead again despite an upbeat report on the state of the US economy and another round of healthy private-sector jobs growth.
Hong Kong fell 0.78 per cent and Shanghai lost 0.56 per cent, while Sydney slipped 0.26 per cent.
Tokyo added 0.22 per cent by lunch and Seoul was flat.
