Investing.com - Gold prices rose to the highest levels of the session on Thursday, following the release of disappointing data on U.S. jobless claims and building permits.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery hit an intraday peak of $1,208.80 a troy ounce, the most since April 13, before trading at $1,206.20 during U.S. morning hours, up $4.90, or 0.41%.
A day earlier, gold tacked on $8.70, or 0.73%, to close at $1,201.30. Futures were likely to find support at $1,183.50, the low from April 14, and resistance at $1,209.30, the high from April 13.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 11 increased by 12,000 to 294,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 2,000 to 280,000 last week.
At the same time, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued in March declined by 5.7% last month to 1.039 million units from February’s total of 1.102 million. Analysts expected building permits to fall by 2.0% to 1.080 million units in March.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts rose by 2.0% in March to hit 926,000 units from February’s total of 908,000 units, below expectations for an increase of 15.9% to 1.040 million.
The disappointing data sparked fresh concerns over the strength of the economy, fuelling speculation that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.45% to trade at 98.10 early on Thursday.
Meanwhile, uncertainty over Greece’s bailout negotiations with its creditors remained in focus. Sentiment remained fragile after ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the country's sovereign credit outlook to 'negative' from 'credit-watch negative'.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver futures for May delivery jumped 15.3 cents, or 0.94%, to trade at $16.43 a troy ounce, while copper for May delivery rallied 5.9 cents, or 2.19%, to trade at $2.772 a pound.
Copper prices remained supported amid speculation policymakers in China will have to introduce further stimulus measures to jumpstart the economy amid lackluster growth.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption.