2020.01.3018:21:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Higher On Safe-haven Appeal

Gold prices rose on Thursday as investors shunned riskier assets and sought the safe-haven asset amid rising worries about the fast spreading coronavirus and its potential impact on the global economy.

According to Chinese health officials, the coronavirus outbreak has killed 170 people and infected more than 8,100.

The cases of the mysterious new coronavirus worldwide now outnumber the infections saw during the entire SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003.

A Chinese government economist estimated that the outbreak could cut China's first-quarter growth by one point to 5% or lower.

Global equities declined sharply and U.S. 10-year treasury yields have eased to near 4-month lows. Meanwhile, the dollar index was down 0.17% at 97.82, edging lower from overnight 97.99.

Gold futures for April ended up $13.20, or about 0.8%, at $1,589.20 an ounce, the highest settlement for the most-active contract since early April 2013.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.505 at $17.992 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $2.5275 per pound, down $0.0305 from previous close.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Labor Department showed fist-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits decreased from to 216,000, from an upwardly revised 223,000 in the previous week. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000 from the 211,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A report from the Commerce Department said U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter continued at the same pace as in the previous quarter, climbing 2.1%. That was in line with economist estimates.