NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--August gold futures are expected to open floor trading in New York around $4 an ounce higher Thursday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. September silver is expected to be up about 3 cents an ounce. In overnight activity, spot gold edged higher Wednesday as the dollar eased against the euro. Traders said the dollar was nearly the only factor driving gold prices at the moment and will continue to dictate its direction in the near term. In recent trading, spot gold was up $4.95 to $936.80. The euro is near steady, at $1.3931 from $1.3929 late Wednesday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the September S&P 500 futures are up 0.80 point to 898.80. August crude is up 69 cents to $69.36 in overnight activity. U.S. economic reports on Thursday include: - June 20 jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), with weekly claims expected down 3,000 at 605,000; - First quarter final GDP at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), expected -5.7%. Fed Chairman Bernanke at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) is scheduled to testify in Washington on the Merrill Lynch acquisition by Bank of America. In New York on Wednesday, gold futures closed sharply higher on chart-based factors, as the market turned up from a key Fibonacci chart level and broke up through some moving averages. Other catalysts cited by analysts were bargain hunting after an 8% pullback from this month's high to low, as well as U.S. economic data and concerns about North Korea's weapons program. August gold rose $10.10 to $934.40. September silver rose 6.6 cents to $13.942. Comex gold warehouse stocks were down 4,612 ounces at 8,699,743 ounces Wednesday, while silver stocks were up 1,902,590 ounces at 119,232,596 ounces.

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