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1st LD Writethru: Gold up slightly after jobless report

Xinhua, January 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose slightly on Thursday after a worse than expected jobless report.

The most active gold contract for March delivery rose 0.4 U.S. dollars, or 0.04 percent, to settle at 1,060.20 dollars per ounce.

However, gold witnessed weekly, monthly and yearly declines on the last day of the year 2015.

For the week, the gold futures declined 1.46 percent, for the month, it lost 0.48 percent. While for the year in 2015, the gold futures shed 10.46 percent, comparing to Dec. 31, 2014.

Gold was given support on Thursday as a report released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed initial jobless claims rising unexpectedly to a worse than expected 20,000 claims to 287,000 during the vacation week of Dec. 24, according to some analysts.

Analysts also said that gold settled a little higher on short covering at year-end and technical buying as gold fell for three successive trading days from Monday to Wednesday.

The long-term trend for gold remains strongly bearish according to analysts as the Fed hiked its interest rate in December, which came despite expectations for a delay in the rate hike until 2016.

An increase in the Fed's interest rate drives investors away from gold and towards assets with a return, as the precious metal bears no interest. Until the December FOMC meeting there had not been an increase in the Fed's interest rate since June 2006, before the beginning of the American financial crisis.

Silver for May delivery fell 3.9 cents, or 0.28 percent, to close at 13.803 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery rose 20.6 dollars, or 2.36 percent, to close at 893.20 dollars per ounce. Endit