Gold probed higher on Thursday afternoon in Europe, touching its highest in one month as the dollar slipped despite hints of a recovery in the US labour market, dealers said.
Spot gold firmed to $407.15/407.90 per troy ounce by 1434 GMT after hitting an intraday peak of $407.75 - its highest since July 19. That compared with New York's late quote on Wednesday of $404.00/404.50.
Reported purchases of gold by Argentina in the first six months of this year, partially offsetting the impact of planned sales within the Central Bank Gold Sales Agreement, also lent support.
"Gold has had a good run up, but things seemed to peter out a little bit on profit-taking later on," one dealer said.
"I think we could see this range of around $405-$410 get tested and the Argentine news was somewhat bullish helping to keep prices up quite well," he added.
The dollar slipped against the euro despite signs of a recovery in the US labour market with initial US weekly jobless claims dipping to 331,000 for the latest week, below economists' forecasts for 335,000.
The euro was trading at $1.2363 against the dollar after pushing to session highs around $1.2378 shortly after the claims report, according to Reuters data, from around $1.2363 just before the data release.
Weaker-than-expected economic numbers from the United States have prompted players to scale back expectations of a dollar-boosting interest rate hike next month, dragging down the dollar and making gold more attractive for non-US investors.
"The combination of a strong euro and new record highs on oil continue to support the gold price," wrote analyst Alexander Zumpfe in a Dresdner Kleinwort research note.
Positive sentiment on gold spilled over into silver, which moved up to $6.88/6.91 from $6.82/6.85, while platinum was at $862.00.00/867.00, from $857.50/862.50.
Palladium rose to $218.00/223.00 from $214.50/220.50 late in New York.
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