Investing.com -- Gold futures closed slightly higher on Thursday, following a streak of massive losses in recent days amid mounting concerns of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for April delivery closed up 0.07% or 0.80 at $1,151.40 a troy ounce. Gold prices moved above $1,165 in U.S. trading before falling steadily hours later.
Metals traders await next week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting when the Fed could remove its reference to "remaining patient," in its minutes. The removal is typically an indication that the U.S. central bank is ready to raise interest rates at either of its next two meetings. After next week's meeting, the FOMC will meet in June and September.
Gold had been in freefall since last Friday when prices declined more than $30 an ounce, following stronger than expected U.S. employment data in the February jobs report. The creation of 295,000 new U.S. jobs, as well as a 5.5% unemployment rate has heightened concerns that the Fed could raise interest rates by June. On Wednesday, gold futures fell more than $10 an ounce to approach a 52-week low of $1,142.47 from early-November.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, continued its march toward 100, approaching a level it has not reached in more than a dozen years. The index gained 0.04% on Thursday to close at 99.16.
The U.S. dollar, though, closed down 0.08% against the euro at 1.0628. Dollar-denominated commodities such as gold become more appealing to holders of other currencies when the dollar depreciates. The dollar is still up more than 10% against the euro this year.
Silver futures, meanwhile, for May delivery were up 0.0030 or 0.19% to trade at 15.567 a troy ounce.
Copper delivery for May rose 0.003 or 0.11% to $2.662 a pound.
Elsewhere, Platinum and Palladium futures were both slightly up. Platinum for April delivery rose 0.05 to 1,116.05, one day after falling to its lowest level since July, 2009. Palladium for June deliveries increased 0.10 to 789.90.