Gold held firm on Wednesday amid speculation that President Donald Trump could roll back some tariffs, particularly on automobiles, linked to the USMCA free trade agreement.
At 8.50am, gold was at $2,916.83, unchanged since it opened early Thursday in Asian trading.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) released its Beige Book report in anticipation of its upcoming monetary policy, noting that overall economic activity picked up, but inflation was higher amid Trump's trade policies.
On the data front, ADP revealed that private hiring slowed significantly in February compared to January's figures.
Meanwhile, the latest ISM Services PMI data for February saw businesses continue to grow healthily. However, concerns that inflation could rise again.
Looking ahead to geopolitics, Ukrainian President Zelensky's officials discussed steps to achieve peace with the US National Security Adviser as the two countries agreed to meet soon.
The talks are likely to ease gold prices and support higher US Treasury yields.
For now, market participants will be eyeing the release of the US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) figures with a forecast of 160,000 jobs added.
