Gold higher in Asia, still faces quarterly decline

Gold futures are trading slightly higher during Friday’s Asian session, but the yellow is metal is still likely to post a first-quarter decline.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery rose 0.05% to USD1,597.15 per troy ounce in Asian trading Friday after settling down 0.72% at USD1,595.65 a troy ounce in U.S. trading on Thursday.

Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,591.95 a troy ounce, Wednesday's low, and resistance at USD1,608.85, Wednesday's high. A batch of conflicting U.S. data points released Thursday is seen as weighing on gold.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department revised its estimate of U.S. fourth-quarter GDP growth to 0.4% from 0.1%. Today’s number was the third of three estimates for the final quarter of 2012. The Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 16,000 to 357,000 last week.

The March reading of the Chicago purchasing managers index fell 4.4% to 52.4%, well below the reading of 56.4% economists expected. Readings above 50% indicate expansion.

With U.S. markets closed today in observance of the Good Friday holiday, New York-traded gold finished the first quarter with a loss of nearly 5%. Gold bulls can find some solace in the fact the yellow metal will finish with a gain for the month of March. In fact March was the best one-month run for gold since July 2012.

Gold reached a 90-day high last week of over USD1,616 per ounce on heightened fears about the situation in Cyprus, but the yellow metal has since fallen victim to some profit taking as Cyprus cut a deal to avoid potential bankruptcy.

Elsewhere, silver for May delivery rose 0.11% to USD28.305 per ounce while copper for May delivery added 0.01% to USD3.403 per ounce.