Gold futures settled modestly lower on Thursday as riskier assets such as equities moved up amid easing worries about the U.S. debt limit and data showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. jobless claims last week.<\/p>\n
However, a slightly weaker dollar limited gold’s decline. The dollar index stayed below the unchanged line since trading commenced on Thursday. The index dropped to a low of 94.08 but subsequently rose to 94.28. <\/p>\n
Gold futures for December ended down by $2.60 or nearly 0.1% at $1,759.20 an ounce.<\/p>\n
Silver futures for December ended higher by $0.126 or 0.6% at $22.658 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.2435 per pound, gaining $0.0960 or about 2.3%.<\/p>\n
The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.563%.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assurance to increase natural gas exports to Europe to resolve the energy crisis lifted sentiment in stock markets<\/span>, which in turn dimmed the demand for the yellow metal.<\/p>\n Putin said that Russia is prepared to stabilize global energy markets by sending more gas to Europe than it has contracted for this year.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers reached an agreement to temporarily extend the debt limit, avoiding a potential default. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced an agreement to extend the debt ceiling through early December.<\/p>\n The agreement would reportedly increase the debt limit by $480 billion, allowing the Treasury to continuing paying its bills through December 3rd.<\/p>\n A report from the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 326,000, a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 364,000.<\/p>\n Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 348,000 from the 362,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n The release of the weekly jobless claims report comes a day ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. <\/p>\n