gold and silver prices traded marginally lower on thursday weighed down by a stronger us dollar as traders awaited october inflation data that might offer more insight into whether the federal reserve might scale back the size of its interestrate hikes in december   gold futures for december delivery gcz22 gc00 fell 410 or 02 to 1709 per ounce on comex   silver for december delivery siz22 si00 shed 14 cents or 07 to 2119 per ounce   december palladium paz22 shed 3220 or 17 to 1827 per ounce while january platinum prices plf23 rose 790 or 08 to 1005 per ounce   copper futures hgz22 expiring in december fell 5 cents or 13 to 365 per pound gold prices have steadied after the mostactive contract climbed above the 1700perounce mark for the first time in a month earlier this week but if the yellow metal is to move higher traders will need to see some progress on inflation said craig erlam senior market analyst at oanda “it’s a very hopefullooking move and one that could end badly if the cpi data continues this year’s trend of disappointing to the upside” he said the headline consumerprice index is expected to slide to 79 in october from 82 and a 40year high of 91 in june according to a consensus forecast from economists polled by the wall street journal