Precious-Gold inched down on Thursday to trade below its highest level in four months, as investors remained sidelined waiting for something new from the East-West tension and U.S. data.

The geopolitical tension in Ukraine eased after Russian President Vladimir Putin said no immediate need to invade Ukraine, taking another step backwards after he ordered his military troops to come back to base on Tuesday.

Diplomatic talks in Paris failed to give an outcome showing little progress in negotiations, where U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said discussions would continue in the coming days.  

The shiny metal has benefited from the escalating in Ukraine to gain around 11 percent this year after sliding to 28 percent last year.

The rally stopped after hitting a peak of $1354.60 on Monday, the highest since September, yet a drop below Monday’s upside gap is needed to guarantee bearishness.

Meanwhile, the yellow metal is trading around $1333.76 an ounce after hitting a high of $1338.38 and a low of $1332.25.

Investors will keep their attention on U.S. data as they aim to gather clues about the Fed’s pace of stimulus taper.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen has mentioned the central bank is “open to reconsidering” the pace of stimulus reduction should recovery wanes.

Data released yesterday showed the private sector added lower than forecast jobs in February and services sector expansion eased more than analysts forecast last month.  

Later in the day, U.S. initial jobless claims may show a drop to 336,000 in the week through March 1 from 348,000 a week before.

U.S. payrolls climbed 150,000 last month, after soaring 113,000 in January, data due on March 7 may show.

On the other hand, investors will pay strong attention to the ECB monetary decision today amid expectations of seeing an introduction to new tools to combat the low inflation.

The U.S. dollar rose against a basket of major currencies to hover around 80.11 after opening at 80.11, according to the dollar index.

Crude oil for April’s delivery inched up to trade around $101.18 a barrel, after touching a record high of $105.19 on Monday.

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