LONDON (SHARECAST) - Gold rallied to a six-week high Thursday after a poor set of jobs figures in the US sparked a flight to safety.
Initial unemployment claims in America rose by 2,000 to 484,000 during the week ended 7 August, much worse than expectations of fall of around 14,000.
The subsequent demand for safer assets had gold for December delivery up $17.50, or 1.5%, to $1,216.70 an ounce in New York.
Traders are also seeing interest from more long term buyers who’ve an eye on inflation further down the line.
Goldman Sachs thinks the yellow metal is currently oversold and believes prices will bounce back to $1,300 within the next six months.
Elsewhere, copper rose 1%, platinum improve, while silver came off a recent two-week low.
On the oil market, crude for September delivery skidded 3% lower, down $2.28 to $75.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
That was the third straight decline and left the black gold at a one-month low. Traders blamed the strong dollar and weak demand outlook following recent weak data.
