ATHENS: Greece’s Gold drop back below the $1200mark on Thursday as investors weighed a slew of economic data from the U.S. The Problems in the eurozone have raised gold’s safe haven appeal, even as the dollar has strengthened against major counterparts this week.
In some disappointing economic news, weekly jobless claims for U.S. unemployment benefits increased unexpectedly, while housing starts and building permits both came in weaker than expected. Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, slipped $3.30 or 0.3 percent to settle at $1,198.00 an ounce, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.
Gold for June delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,208.80 and a low of $1,194.30 an ounce. On Tuesday, gold futures gained $8.70 or 0.7 percent to settle at $1,201.30 an ounce, as the dollar weakened following some soft economic data from the U.S., with continuing uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s next move on plans to hike rates.