Investing.com - Gold prices tumbled on Friday, as the U.S. dollar remained broadly supported following recent comments by U.S. President Donald Trump on tax reform and an upbeat jobless claims report added to optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery were down 1.12% at $1,223.00, the lowest since February 6.
The April contract ended Thursday's session 0.22% lower at $1,236.80 an ounce.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,206.20, the low of February 3 and resistance at $1,243.50, Thursday's high.
The dollar strengthened after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would announce the most ambitious tax reform plan since the Reagan era in the next few weeks.
During a meeting with airline CEOs on Thursday, Trump promised a "phenomenal" tax plan, without giving any specific details of the plan.
The comments came after the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims decreased by 12,000 to 234,000 in the week ending February 4. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 100.69, just off a two-week high of 100.75 hit overnight.
Elsewhere in metals trading, silver futures for March delivery lost 1.01% to $17.562 a troy ounce, while copper futures for March delivery gained 0.77% to $2.675 a pound.
Copper prices remained under pressure however, as workers at the Escondida copper mine in Chile, the largest in the world, launched a strike on Thursday.
The workers union has warned that the strike could be lengthy, potentially affecting global supplies.
Chile is the world's biggest producer of the red metal, providing almost a third of the world's supply.