Gold futures rose Thursday for a second straight session as a weaker dollar and gloomy U.S. economic data combined to increase the metal's investment appeal.
Metals futures traded broadly higher in early action.
Coloring the action in gold, the number of people collecting state unemployment benefits has reached yet another new record, the Labor Department reported. And the U.S. economy contracted at a 6.3% rate, the worst since 1982, data showed.
Some investors buy the precious metal as a safe haven against economic troubles.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for April delivery rose $7.70, or 0.8%, to stand at $943.50 an ounce.
Gold trading remained volatile recently, with the metal surging nearly 8% last Thursday to near the $960-an-ounce mark before pulling back below $925 on Tuesday.
"The dollar and economic data are helping gold," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. "But given the volatility and caution across the financial markets, gold is likely to remain in a choppy mood in the coming sessions."
The number of people collecting state unemployment benefits jumped 122,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.56 million in the week ended March 14, while first-time claims for benefits rose 8,000 to 652,000 for the week ended March 21. See Economic Report.
Meanwhile, U.S. gross domestic product for the fourth quarter plunged at a seasonally adjusted 6.3% on an annualized basis, the Commerce Department said in its final revision for the three-month period. See Economic Report.
In foreign-exchange trading, the U.S. dollar fell against the other major currencies after the economic data, with the dollar index down 0.1% at 83.621. A weaker greenback tends to push up dollar-denominated gold prices.
In exchange-traded funds, holdings in SPDR Gold Shares , the biggest ETF backed by gold, remained at a record high of 1,124.99 tons, unchanged from a day ago, according to the latest data from the fund.
In other metals action, silver for May delivery rose 2% to $13.71 an ounce, April platinum rose 3.2% to $1,158.50 an ounce, June palladium rallied 6.5% to $225.60 an ounce and May copper added 3.7% to $1.875 a pound.
