Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Thursday as traders prepared for an anticipated Federal Reserve rate hike despite U.S. dollar and U.S. data weakness.

The most active gold contract for April delivery fell 6.2 U.S. dollars, or 0.51 percent, to settle at 1,203.20 dollars per ounce.

Investors are focused primarily on adjusting their positions in the precious metal on expectations for a rate hike at the the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. They believe the Fed may raise rates from 0.75 to 1.00 during the March FOMC meeting.

According to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to at least 0.75 is at 84 percent at the March meeting and 78 percent for the May meeting, along with a 7 percent chance of an increase to a 1.0 rate.

Gold was prevented from falling further as the U.S. Dollar Index fell by 0.25 percent to 101.87 as of 1830 GMT. The index is a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies. Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.

The precious metal was given further support as the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22 points, or 0.11 percent as of 18:30 GMT. Analysts note that when equities post losses, the precious metal usually goes up, as investors are looking for a safe haven, while the opposite is true when U.S. equities post gains.

Traders are waiting for the big jobs report due on Friday, and on Monday of next week, the labor market condition index is released, on Tuesday the FOMC meeting begins and the producer price index is released.

Silver for May delivery dropped 26.2 cents, or 1.51 percent, to close at 17.036 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery fell 12.3 dollars, or 1.30 percent, to close at 937.20 dollars per ounce.