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1st LD Writethru: Gold down slightly, settles near 1,200 USD

Xinhua, April 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Thursday as a key U.S. manufacturing report showed strength and a senior official of U.S. central bank said the Fed is likely to raise rates this year.

The most active gold contract for June delivery fell 3.3 U.S. dollars, or 0.27 percent, to settle at 1,198.00 dollars per ounce.

Gold extended losses after U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer repeated his view to the media that the central bank is likely to raise rates this year, analysts said.

Gold was put under further pressure as a report released by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve branch showed its manufacturing index increased to 7.5 in April from 5.0 in March.

However, gold was given a small amount of support as the U.S. Dollar Index dropped by 0.94 percent to 97.47 as of 1800 GMT.

Another report by the U.S. Department of Labor released on Thursday showed initial jobless claims rising slightly by 12,000 in the April 11 week to 294,000. Analysts say this figure is worse than expected, but as the four-week average is little changed, it didn't support gold much on Thursday.

Silver for May delivery added 0.5 cents, or 0.03 percent, to close at 16.284 dollars per ounce. Platinum for July delivery gained 2.6 dollars, or 0.22 percent, to close at 1,159.20 dollars per ounce. Endite