Gold gives up ground even as dollar slips

Gold prices edged down while still remaining within striking distance of July highs, even as the dollar hovered near an eleven-month trough, following earlier data from  the US, the world's largest economy. 

As of 02:53 GMT, gold futures due on August 16 fell 0.14% to $1,240.20 an ounce from the opening of $1,242.00, while the dollar index rose 0.11% to 94.67 from the opening of 94.78. 

Earlier US data showed a bigger than expected drop in weekly unemployment claims, while the Philly manufacturing index slid to 19.5 in July from 27.6, missing expectations of 23.4. 

It's worth mentioning that gold holdings at the SPDR Gold Trust, one of the world's largest gold-backed exchange funds, fell by 5.32 metric tonnes for the day in a row to a total of 816.13 metric tonnes, the lowest since February, 3.