Investing.com - Gold futures were higher in North American trade on Thursday, extending overnight gains after data showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose to the highest level in five weeks.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits increased by 17,000 last week to 274,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 260,000 from the previous week’s total of 257,000.
Gold for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped $10.40, or 0.82%, to trade at $1,284.80 a troy ounce by 13:35GMT, or 08:35AM ET.
Market players now looked ahead to a raft of speeches from Federal Reserve officials later in the day to judge the balance of opinion among policymakers on the prospect of further rate hikes.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is due to speak at 15:30GMT, or 11:30AM ET, at Santa Barbara County's Economic Summit. Then San Francisco Fed President John Williams is due to appear at the Hoover Institution's International Monetary Stability Conference.
Bullard and Williams also join a panel at the conference with Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan.
Market players are also focusing on Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report. The consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 200,000 last month, following an increase of 215,000 in March, the unemployment rate is forecast to hold steady at 5.0%, while average hourly earnings are expected to rise 0.3% after gaining 0.3% a month earlier.
An upbeat employment report would help support the case for the Fed to steadily tighten monetary policy this year, while a disappointing outcome will push back expectations for higher interest rates.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. interest rates, as a rise would lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
Prices of the yellow metal are up nearly 21% so far this year as expectations faded that the Fed would move to normalize interest rates due to fears over a global economic slowdown.
A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver futures for May delivery rose 28.9 cents, or 1.67%, to trade at $17.59 a troy ounce during morning hours in New York, while copper futures declined 2.2 cents, or 0.98%, to $2.165 a pound.
The latest survey from China showed the service sector expanded at a slower pace in April. The Caixin services purchasing managers' index dropped to 51.8 from 52.2 in March.
China is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.