Gold Prices Move Notably Higher Amid U.S. Dollar Weakness

(RTTNews) - The price of gold showed a notable move to the upside during trading on Thursday, with the precious metal benefiting from a decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar.

Gold for August delivery jumped $22.70 or 1.2 percent to $1,871.40 an ounce after ending the previous session nearly unchanged.

The increase in the price of gold came as the U.S. dollar index has slid by 0.7 percent, offsetting the advance seen on Wednesday.

After seeing overnight weakness, the value of the U.S. dollar saw further downside after payroll processor ADP released a report showing much weaker than expected private sector job growth in the month of May.

ADP said private sector employment climbed by 128,000 jobs in May after jumping by a downwardly revised 202,000 jobs in April.

Economists had expected private sector employment to surge by 300,000 jobs compared to the addition of 247,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined in the week ended May 28th.

The report showed initial jobless claims fell to 200,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 211,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 210,000 originally reported for the previous week.

On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.

Economists currently expect employment to jump by 325,000 jobs in May after surging by 428,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent.