Gold declines ahead of ECB decision

On Thursday, gold dipped in European trade because traders waited for the outcome of the European Central Bank's gathering for fresh clues on when it’s going to start shifting away from its ultra-easy policy.

In New York, gold hit $1,238.68 a troy ounce losing 0.3%. On Wednesday, gold concluded a few cents higher, extending their streak of profits to a fourth session.

The ECB's fresh interest rate verdict isn’t supposed to offer big changes.

Traders will pay attention to President Mario Draghi's press conference because market participants need more clues on when and how the EU’s key financial institution could scale back its huge quantitative easing program.

Financial experts are assured that the key bank will probably wait until September before declaring a tapering of up to 60 billion euros of monthly asset purchases.

Apart from key banks traders will pay attention to American data due later in the trading session just to assess the strength of the world's leading economy and how it will affect the Fed's view on monetary policy.