Gold fell more than 1% in a choppy trade session, as the dollar rose to a 4-year high against the yen and rallied against the euro, decreasing bullion's appeal as a hedge against US currency depreciation.
Gold holdings of SPDR gold trust, the largest ETF backed by the precious metal, increased to 1,054.18 tons, as on May 9. Silver holdings of ishares silver trust, the largest ETF backed by the metal, increased to 10,440.4 tons, as on May 8.
The US dollar rose above the 100 Japanese-yen level on Thursday, for the first time in 4-years as recent stronger data points have eased investors’ fears about US economic growth.
US jobless claims for the week ended May 4 fell by 4,000 to 323,000, the lowest level since January 2008.
The ICE dollar index, which measures the US dollar’s moves against six major currencies, rose to 82.687 from 81.807 in late trade on Wednesday.
The leftwing opposition politician who was Germany's finance minister when the euro was adopted says it's time to think about abandoning the common currency in the wake of the enormous economic problems in southern Europe - News Reports.
The euro fell against the dollar on Thursday, after two days of gains, hurt partly by a weakerthan- expected Spanish debt auction that served as a reminder to investors that the outlook for the euro zone's weaker nations remained uncertain.
Copper futures declined on Thursday, as price charts faced strong resistance after the metal's rally to a 3-week high on expectations of rising demand from top importer China following strong trade numbers.
Crude oil futures traded steadily, as they pared earlier losses, struggling back toward their 5- week high as a decline in US jobless claims raised concerns that the US Federal Reserve will begin to pull back from its easy monetary policy.
Brent crude traded firmly in volatile while the US crude closed slightly down, as investors weighed Middle East tensions against weak demand and high inventories.
Natural gas futures fell to a 5-week low on Thursday, after a report from the US Energy Information Administration showed natural gas supplies rose more-than-expected last week.
The US Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the US in the week ended May 3 rose by 88bn cubic feet to 1.865 trillion cubic feet.
