Gold Ends Above $1350 Ahead Of Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended higher for a second straight session on Thursday, ahead of the crucial monthly U.S. jobs report. Nonetheless, the gains were capped by some upbeat data that showed initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits to have dropped more than expected last week. Investors also weighed comments from European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi on the state of the eurozone economy.

Earlier today, a Labor Department report showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits to have dropped more than expected in the week ended March 1, which is an upbeat sign for the labor market ahead of tomorrow's monthly jobs report.

The U.S. Labor Department is scheduled to release its closely watched monthly employment report for February early Friday. Economists expect employment to increase by about 150,000 jobs in February following the addition of 113,000 jobs in January. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 6.6 percent.

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell more than expected in January, a report from the Commerce Department showed Thursday.

The Ukraine crisis continued to remain in focus with the Crimean parliament voting to join Russia on Thursday, but Ukraine Prime Minister says the region will remain part of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Thursday the moderate recovery in the euro area is proceeding at a gradual pace, in sync with the bank's assessment, and inflation is expected to remain low for a prolonged period. The European Central Bank left its main refinancing rate unchanged at a record low 0.25 percent for a fourth month.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Bank of England kept its key interest rate at a record low 0.5 percent in support of the economic recovery.

Gold for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $11.50 or 0.9 percent to close at $1,351.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.

Gold for April delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,352.50 and a low of $1,331.30 an ounce.

Yesterday, gold futures settled higher, after some soft private sector jobs data from the U.S., amid renewed saber-rattling between Moscow and the West with Kremlin threatening to retaliate against any possible sanctions by seizing U.S. assets in Russia.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, remained unchanged at 803.70 tons from its previous close.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 79.64 on Thursday, down from its previous close of 80.09 late Wednesday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 80.20 intraday and a low of 79.59.

The euro trended sharply higher on the ECB's assessment of the European bloc economy. The euro traded higher against the dollar at $1.3866 on Thursday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3733 late Wednesday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3872 intraday and a low of $1.3722.

In economic news, weekly initial jobless claims for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped to 323,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 349,000. Economists expected jobless claims to dip to 338,000 from the 348,000 originally reported for the previous week. This is the lowest level jobless claims have dropped since hitting 305,000 in the last week of November.

Factory orders in the U.S. dropped 0.7 percent in January after tumbling by a revised 2.0 percent in December. Economists expected orders to decrease by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.5 percent drop originally reported for the previous month. The drop in orders largely reflect another notable decrease in orders for transportation equipment, which fell by 5.7 percent in January after plunging by 12.1 percent in December.

The pace of labor productivity growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 showed a notable downward revision, with output rising much less than previously estimated, a U.S. Labor Department released showed Thursday. Productivity increased by 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previously reported 3.2 percent increase. Economists expected the pace of productivity growth to be downwardly revised to 2.4 percent.

The European Central Bank's Governing Council left its In the latest macroeconomic projections, the ECB staff raised growth forecast for the year to 1.2 percent from 1.1 percent seen in December. The growth outlook for 2015 was maintained at 1.5 percent, while the first set of forecast for 2016 indicates growth at 1.8 percent.