NEW YORK: Gold rallied 1.5 per cent to its biggest one-day rally in more than two months on Thursday, as higher-than-expected US jobless claims prompted a surge of buying in perceived safe-haven assets. Gold prices hit a four-week high despite two days of sharp equity market losses, after the Federal Reserve downgraded its economic outlook and said it needed to buy government debt to boost a flagging economy. Earlier on Thursday, gold jumped about $10 in the minutes after data showed the number of US workers filing new claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week to a near six-month high, signaling a weak job market. "With the weak job report, and everything else we heard in the past couple of days, you are finding safe-haven bid in gold," said Fred Schoenstein, trader at Heraeus Precious Metals Management in New York. Schoenstein also cited a "very strong technical signal" in the US December contract after it closed above key resistance at its 50-day moving average at $1,214.30 an ounce. Bullion largely rangebounded this week after the Fed's reassessment, but it finally broke out on Thursday as its appeal as an alternative asset increased due to a stock market swoon. The S&P 500 was down more than 3 per cent so far this week. Gold for December delivery on COMEX settled up $17.50, or 1.5 per cent, at $1,216.70 an ounce. It was December's biggest one-day per centage gain since June 7. Gold was at $1,214.75 an ounce by 3:09 p.m. EDT (1909 GMT), against $1,197 late in New York on Wednesday, still nearly 5 per cent below late June's lifetime high around $1,264. Earlier this week, data showed the US trade gap surprisingly widened in June, suggesting economic growth was weaker than previously thought. In China, a government-induced slowdown in investment took a toll on imports, threatening to derail global economic recovery. Wall Street came under pressure for a second day after weaker jobless claims data. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed almost two-thirds of Americans believe the US economy will worsen before it gets better. Traders also cited a bullish research note from Goldman Sachs, which upgraded its forecast for the gold price, as a driver to the rally in the price on Thursday. "The recent sell-off has left speculative long positions in gold oversold relative to US real interest rates, which we believe has set the stage for a rally to our six-month gold price target of $1,300/ounce," Goldman said. The metal rose as the dollar extended the previous day's strong gains due to risk aversion and weaker-than-expected Greek economic data. The correlation between gold and the US currency has been erratic so far this year, as the metal and the dollar both benefited from safe-haven demand due to fears about global growth at times. HOLDINGS RISE The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings rose for the first time in a week. Silver benefited from gold's rise, and was at $18.03 an ounce, up from $17.84 the day before. Spot platinum was at $1,525.50 an ounce, down around 1.5 per cent from the levels late in New York on Wednesday, but up from an intraday low of $1,500.75. Palladium was at $466, versus $477.00 Wednesday. Sentiment among PGMs traders should improve after General Motors posted its biggest quarterly profit in six years. Prices at 4:26 p.m. EDT (2026 GMT) LAST/ NET PCT YTD CLOSE CHG CHG CHG US gold 1216.70 17.50 1.5% 11.0% US silver 18.065 0.163 0.0% 7.2% US platinum 1531.60 11.00 0.7% 4.1% US palladium 471.05 6.35 1.4% 15.2% Gold 1214.55 17.55 1.5% 10.8% Silver 18.05 0.21 1.2% 7.2% Platinum 1526.50 -19.50 -1.3% 4.2% Palladium 467.00 -10.00 -2.1% 15.2% Gold Fix 1213.00 13.00 1.1% 9.9% Silver Fix 17.92 -20.00 -1.1% 5.5% Platinum Fix 1524.00 13.00 0.9% 4.0% Palladium Fix 469.00 4.00 0.9% 16.7%

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