Investing.com - Gold held on to gains on Thursday, as investors digested a raft of U.S. data on initial jobless claims, consumer price inflation and durable goods orders.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery jumped $13.40, or 1.12%, to trade at $1,214.90 a troy ounce during U.S. morning hours after hitting an intraday high of $1,219.80, the most since February 19.
A day earlier, gold tacked on $4.20, or 0.35%, to settle at $1,201.50.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,190.00, the low from February 24, and near-term resistance at $1,222.90, the high from February 19.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits increased by 31,000 last week to 313,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 8,000 to 290,000 last week.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Labor said that consumer prices declined 0.7% last month, compared to estimates for a decline of 0.6% and following a drop of 0.4% in December.
Core consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased 0.2%, above expectations for a 0.1% increase. Core consumer prices were flat in December.
A separate report showed that total durable goods orders, which include transportation items, increased by 2.8% last month, above expectations for a gain of 1.7%.
Core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, inched up by 0.3% in January, disappointing forecasts for a 0.5% gain.
Gold remained supported as recent comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen prompted investors to push back expectations for a rate hike in the U.S.
Investors scaled back expectations for a mid-year rate hike after Yellen said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday that it was “unlikely” that economic conditions would warrant an interest rate increase for “at least the next couple of FOMC meetings”.
She added that if the economy keeps improving as the Fed expects it will modify its forward guidance, but emphasized that a modification of its language should not be read as indicating that a rate hike would automatically happen within a number of meetings.
Meanwhile, silver futures for May delivery rallied 27.8 cents, or 1.69%, to trade at $16.75 a troy ounce. Prices jumped 24.1 cents, or 1.48%, on Wednesday to close at $16.47.
Elsewhere on the Comex, copper for May delivery inched up 3.6 cents, or 1.36%, to trade at a six-week high of $2.680 a pound amid ongoing expectations for further easing measures in China.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.