On Thursday gold prices rose to the highest levels of the session,
following the release of disappointing reports on U.S. jobless claims and
building permits.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery hit an intraday peak of $1,208.80 a troy ounce, the most since April 13, before trading at $1,206.20 during U.S. morning hours, up $4.90, or 0.41%.
On Wednesday, gold tacked on $8.70, or 0.73%, to close at $1,201.30. Futures were likely to find support at $1,183.50, the low from April 14, and resistance at $1,209.30, the high from April 13.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 11 increased by 12,000 to 294,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000, while analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 2,000 to 280,000 last week.
The U.S. Commerce Department meanwhile said that the number of building permits issued in March declined by 5.7% last month to 1.039 million units from February’s total of 1.102 million, while economists expected building permits to fall by 2.0% to 1.080 million units in March. The data also showed that U.S. housing starts rose by 2.0% in March to hit 926,000 units from February’s total of 908,000 units, below expectations for a rise of 15.9% to 1.040 million.
The downbeat data spurred worries over the strength of the economy, fuelling speculation that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
In the meantime, Greece’s talks with its
creditors remained closely watched. Ratings
agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the country's sovereign credit
outlook to 'negative' from 'credit-watch negative' adding to the country's economic woes.
Silver futures for May delivery jumped 15.3 cents, or 0.94%, to trade at $16.43 a troy ounce, while copper for May delivery rallied 5.9 cents, or 2.19%, to trade at $2.772 a pound.
Copper prices remained supported amid speculation policymakers in China will have to introduce further stimulus measures to jumpstart the economy amid lackluster growth. China is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption.
