Forexpros - Gold futures rose for the first time in four days on Thursday, as the precious metal’s appeal was boosted by broad weakness in the U.S. dollar, but gains were limited amid the uncertain outlook for further easing in the U.S. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery traded at USD1,582.95 a troy ounce during early European trade, gaining 0.75%. It earlier rose by as much as 0.9% to trade at a session high of USD1,584.15 a troy ounce. Gold futures were likely to find near-term support at USD1,554.55 a troy ounce, the low from July 12 and resistance at USD1,598.75, the high from July 17. Gold’s gains came as the U.S. dollar retreated against most of its major counterparts, as investor sentiment strengthened, bolstering demand for higher yielding assets. The Australian dollar hit an 11-week high against the greenback, while the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the U.S. dollar against a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.3% to trade at 82.83, the lowest since July 5. Meanwhile, investors mulled over a second day of testimony on the economy and monetary policy by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday. Bernanke reiterated that the U.S. central bank was prepared to take further action to support the economic recovery if necessary. However, he failed to indicate whether the Fed will embark on a third round of quantitative easing. Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would pump more money into the financial system. Gold gained as much as 15% earlier this year to hit USD1,790 an ounce after the Fed said in January it would keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014 and indicated that it could introduce a fresh round of asset-purchases. However, prices have lost almost 12% since late February, as the Fed failed to deliver more easing and amid concerns over the euro zone’s deepening debt crisis, which has fueled demand for the precious metal's hedge, the greenback. Market participants looked ahead to a raft of U.S. data later in the day, to gauge the strength of the U.S. economic recovery. The world’s largest economy was to publish government data on initial jobless claims, as well as reports on existing home sales and manufacturing activity in Philadelphia. On Wednesday, official data showed that U.S. housing starts hit their highest level since October 2008 last month. Meanwhile, the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds was at 6.97%, hovering close to the critical 7% threshold, widely viewed as unsustainable in the long run, amid sustained concerns over Madrid’s finances. The debt-laden country was due to auction EUR2-3 billion in government bonds later in the day. Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery jumped 1% to trade at USD27.37 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery rose 0.8% to trade at USD3.501 a pound.

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