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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures edged up in volatile trading Thursday, as the euro pared some of its gains against the dollar after the European Central Bank held interest rates steady and dented currency markets' hopes for a rate hike in May.

Gold for June delivery rose 30 cents to stand at $682.0 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling more than $1 earlier in the session.
The ECB kept rates at 3.75%, as expected.

"A bit of uncertainty and nervousness could be the theme of the day," said Jon Nadler, analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers. "Bullion has been running into headwinds near the $682 area, despite continuing perceptions (and trading reality) that the U.S. dollar is on a basically one-way slide."

The euro trimmed some of its gains against the dollar after comments by European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet were deemed less hawkish.

Trichet also said that monetary policy remains accommodative and that the central bank will monitor very closely the risks to price stability." Trichet didn't use the phrase "vigilance" -- widely seen as a code word for a rate hike the following month.

"While the bullish trend remains intact, some traders feel that there may be a period of consolidation before gold prices manage to break resistance at $682 and the psychologically important $700 mark," according to Action Economics.

On Wednesday, gold ended up 20 cents at $681.70 an ounce, as technical and psychological resistance capped gains.

"Concerns about the health of the U.S. economy have again proved supportive for gold this morning with the yellow metal working toward $680," said James Moore, analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. Also, "the market has withstood good volumes of central-bank selling over the past few weeks, with physical and longer-term investors viewing dips favorably."

"The market remains well placed both technically and fundamentally, with clearance of the resistance area likely to trigger a retest of $689," Moore said.

Other metals prices were mostly lower. May silver fell 2 cents at $13.88 an ounce, July platinum dipped 30 cents at $1281.0 an ounce and May copper was down 2 cents at $3.56 a pound. June palladium bucked the trend, rising $4.45 at $374.0 an ounce.

Elsewhere in the commodity markets, crude-oil futures rose Thursday, drawing support from a greater-than-expected decline in gasoline supplies reported by the Energy Department on Wednesday. A Thursday report from the International Energy Agency on the decline in global oil output also underpinned prices.

Indexes and inventories

On the supply side, gold warehouse stocks were unchanged at 7.45 million troy ounces as of late Wednesday, according to Nymex data. Silver supplies fell 643,030 troy ounces to stand at 125.79 million troy ounces, while copper supplies fell 44 short tons to 36,311 short tons.

Indexes tracking the performance of stocks in the metals and mining sector were mixed Thursday.

Polya Lesova is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York