Gold futures settled higher on Thursday, recouping most of losses from a day earlier that pulled prices to their lowest finish in just over a week.
The precious metal found support from weakness in the U.S. dollar following U.S. data showing a weekly rise in the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits to a nearly two-year high.
Gold for August delivery rose $20.20, or 1%, to settle at $1,978.60 an ounce on Comex after losing 1.2% on Wednesday. Prices for the contract eye a weekly rise of around 0.5%, FactSet data show.
July silver climbed 82 cents, or 3.5%, at $24.35 an ounce.
July platinum fell 1% to $1,013.90 an ounce, while September palladium lost 2.1% at $1,358.30 an ounce.
July copper rose 1% to $3.80 a pound.
U.S. jobless claims rose 28,000 to 261,000 for the week ended June 3, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The ICE U.S. Dollar index declined by 076% to 103.35 following the data, raising the appeal of dollar-denominated gold.
The rise in jobless claims helps support the possibility that the Federal Reserve will not increase interest rates at their policy meeting next week.
Source : MarketWatch
