By Claudia Assis and Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rose on Thursday, getting a boost from a weaker dollar and rising U.S. stocks and as talks surfaced of another round of economic stimulus in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Gold for June delivery GCM2 +0.87% rallied $13.90, or 0.8%, to $1,674.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, keeping it close to session highs. The metal traded as high as $1,676.90 an ounce, according to FactSet Research.
Support was underpinned by a weaker dollar and rising U.S. stocks, analysts said. “With equities higher, that tells me this is a liquidity-driven move,” said Adam Klopfenstein, a market strategist with Archer Financial in Chicago.
Gold traders are “positioning themselves” on the belief that more liquidity will be injected into the system, with talks of another round of large-scale bond purchasing popping up in the U.S. and China, among other countries, he said.
U.S. stocks rose on signals interest rates will remain ultralow for the time being, which took some of the sting off a disappointing report on unemployment benefits.
New York Fed President William Dudley on Thursday told an audience in upstate New York the economy is not yet strong enough to make a significant dent in the jobless rate.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department said the number of Americans applying for jobless benefits rose to its highest level in two and a half months, jumping 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 380,000 in the week ended April 7. Read more about the jobless benefits data.
Chinese authorities are slated to release data on gross domestic product on Friday. China has become the center of attention for investors, who fear the commodity-gobbling country’s economy might be slowing down.
Meanwhile, the ICE dollar index DXY -0.39% , which measures the U.S. dollar against a basket of six currencies, traded at 79.355, down from 79.791 in North American trade late Wednesday.
A decline in the U.S. unit boosts dollar-denominated commodities such as gold, because it makes them cheaper to holders of other currencies.
Gold closed Wednesday’s seesawing session down 40 cents, struggling with the absence of major catalysts. Read more on Wednesday's gold session.
Gold prices are outrunning most investments week-to-date, up 1.8% so far against losses for most metals, according to FactSet data.
In other metals trading Thursday, silver for May delivery SIK2 +2.73% rose 83 cents, or 2.6%, to $32.36 an ounce.
May copper HGK2 +2.24% added 9 cents, or 2.4%, to $3.73 a pound.
July platinum PLN2 +1.00% gained $18.20, or 1.2%, to $1,602.50 an ounce, while palladium for June delivery PAM2 +1.86% rose $13.50, or 2.1%, to $650.10 an ounce.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
