On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery were down 0.07% and trading at USD1,692.45 a troy ounce, up from a session low of USD1,691.25 and down from a high of USD1,692.75 a troy ounce early during the session.
Gold futures were likely to test support at USD1,687.25 a troy ounce, Wednesday's low, and resistance at USD1,698.75, Tuesday's high.
Bloomberg reported earlier that the ECB was planning "unlimited, sterilized" bond purchases, without setting bond yield targets.
The plan, known as the Monetary Outright Transaction proposal, will involve purchases of government bonds carrying maturities of up to three years.
The news sent the euro gaining against the dollar, gold's traditional hedge, though investors largely sold the metal to await more definitive announcements out of Europe.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will release its August jobs report on Friday, and soft numbers could spark market talk the Federal Reserve will decide at its monetary policy meeting next week that stimulus measures may be need to prime recovery, which would be bullish for the precious metal.
Investors, however, stayed in a wait-and-see mode at least early in the Asian session on Thursday.
Also in Europe, eurozone retail sales contracted although in line with expectations, dropping 0.2% in July and bringing the annualized rate of decline to 1.7%.
Elsewhere in the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier that non-farm business sector labor productivity rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in the second quarter, outpacing expectations for a 1.8% gain and up from a preliminary estimate of a 1.6% increase.
The report also showed that unit labor costs rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.5% in the second quarter, in line with expectations and down from an initial estimate of a 1.7% increase.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery was down 0.17% and trading at USD32.273 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery was down 0.10% and trading at USD3.517 a pound.
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