London — Gold eased on Thursday as the dollar firmed ahead of a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting which will be watched for signs of officials moving away from an ultra-loose monetary policy. The ECB is expected to lay the groundwork for a northern autumn policy shift when it meets, after ECB chief Mario Draghi opened the door to tweaks in a speech in Portugal in June. The spot gold price was down 0.2% at $1,238.04/oz at 10.48am GMT, while US gold futures for August delivery were 0.4% lower to $1,237.40/oz. The euro was down 0.1% against the dollar before the policy decision, but hovered close to a recent a 14-month high. A stronger dollar tends to pressure assets priced in the US currency. "It has been currency swings and rate swings which have been driving gold as of late," Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke said. "You still have speculation in the market that the ECB may shift to a less expansionary policy earlier than expected. We tend to disagree. "We think the potential for d...
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