Investing.com - Gold found some safe-have demand from China as borrowing by some major private firms to buy assets overseas comes under the scanner of the country's bank regulator.
Reports overnight said China's banking regulator had asked large lender to check credit risk profiles of several companies that had borrowed heavily in greenbacks to buy assets abroad. But details were sparse and there was no immediate indications on the extent of exposure.
Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were last quoted at $1,252.07 a troy ounce.
Overnight, gold prices remained on track to end higher for a second-straight session, as subdued weekly initial jobless claims data undershot expectations, helping the precious metal shrug off expectations that the Federal Reserve may hike rates later this year.
The latest weekly update on initial jobless claims failed to impress market participants, showing that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased slightly last week.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 241,000 for the week ended June 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Analysts were expecting Initial jobless claims to increase by only 2000 to 240,000.
The move higher in gold prices comes in the wake of a recent shift in sentiment towards safe havens, after oil prices fell to multi-month lows this week.
Some analysts expect, however, that expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise rates later this year will cap upside momentum.
"If the Fed were to follow a more aggressive approach, this could preclude any significant rise in gold prices for the rest of the year," Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) analysts wrote in a recent note to clients.