Gold fell to a four-week low on Thursday, extending losses into a third straight session due to a strong dollar and the prospect of higher US interest rates, with the market eyeing US economic data due later in the day for further trading cues. Spot gold slid to $1,164.25 an ounce, its lowest since June 5, and was trading at $1,164.61 by 0644 GMT. It has lost about 1 percent in the previous two sessions.
The dollar index held near a three-week top hit earlier in the session, supported by strong US private employment data and weakness in the euro after Greece defaulted on a loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund.
With the Greek debt crisis failing to trigger strong safe-haven bids for gold, markets turned their focus to data on US nonfarm payrolls and durable goods due later in the day for clues on the strength of the economy and how that will affect Federal Reserve monetary policy.
"Gold's appeal as a safe-haven asset, clearly, has not really shone through in the past half-week. Not aiding gold's cause has been a rapidly strengthening dollar," said Howie Lee, an analyst at Phillip Futures.
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