2020.04.0211:07:00UTC+00Gold Prices Mixed As Dollar Holds Gains

Gold prices traded mixed on Thursday and the dollar held firm, as investors awaited U.S. weekly jobless claims data later in the day for an indication of the economy's health amid mounting signs of a recession due to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

Spot gold was marginally lower at $1,590.77 per ounce, after rising 1.2 percent in the previous session. U.S. gold futures were up 0.7 percent at $1,602.15 per ounce.

The U.S. Labor Department will release the report at 8:30 a.m. ET. According to analysts, the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits likely shot to a record high for a second week in a row as many businesses face plummeting consumer demand and mandatory closures.

Spain has shed close to 900,000 jobs, more than half of them temporary, since it went into lockdown in mid-March to fight the coronavirus outbreak, social security data showed earlier today as the country's death toll surpassed China's.

Fears persist over rising Covid-19 cases, with Italy and Germany prolonging rigid lockdown measures until after Easter holiday to halt the spread of the disease.

Spain reported a record 864 deaths in one day Wednesday, for a total of more than 9,000, while France registered 509 deaths for more than 4,000 deaths in all. Italy has the most deaths of any country at more than 13,000.

Elsewhere, the U.S. now has more than 216,721 confirmed cases, with the death toll reaching 5,000.