2021.09.0919:00:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Higher On Dollar Weakness, Growth Worries

Gold prices moved higher on Thursday as the dollar shed ground against most of its major rivals.

Uncertainty about the pace of global economic recovery, concerns surrounding regulatory crackdown in China and likely pullback in stimulus measures from central banks prompted investors to go for the safe-haven asset.

The dollar index slipped to 92.38, losing about 0.3% from Wednesday's close.

Gold futures for December ended up by $6.50 or about 0.4% at $1,800.00 an ounce.

Silver futures for December ended higher by $0.121 at $24.177 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.2855 per pound, down $0.0525 from the previous close.

Data from the Labor Department showed a bigger than expected decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended September 4th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 310,000, a decrease of 35,000 from the previous week's revised level of 345,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 335,000 from the 340,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims once again dropped to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.

Traders were also reacting to the European Central Bank's latest monetary policy decision, with the bank announcing it would slow the pace of asset purchases under its pandemic emergency purchase program.