US gold ended on Thursday with moderate gains, after rallying enough strength from dollar declines and oil gains to break above several resistance levels, trigger automatic sell orders and spark new and short cover buying, traders said.
August futures finished $13.40, or 1.44 percent, higher at $942.0 an ounce on the COMEX division of New York Mercantile Exchange. August gold's trading band ran up to a high at $946.0 an ounce from a $926.40 low. Last week, it reached a 2-1/2-month peak at $950 per ounce.
COMEX estimated final gold volume at 152,183 lots. Wednesday's final count came to 139,143 lots, with open interest up 2,418 at 445,620 lots. Spot gold surged to $944.10/945.30 an ounce by 14:42 am EDT (1842 GMT), up from $926.90/928.10 an ounce in late Wednesday trade in New York.
September silver closed 14.50 cents higher at $18.32 an ounce. COMEX silver reached a range high at $18.42 an ounce, up from a low at $18.13. Last Thursday, it hit a 2-1/2-month high at $18.5850. COMEX estimated final volume at 27,180 lots, compared with a total 24,386 lots on Wednesday.
Spot silver built on day earlier gains and rose to $18.28/18.33 an ounce by 2:36 pm EDT (1836 GMT), from $18.09/18.15 an ounce late Wednesday. October platinum surged $26.40 to end at $1,998.40 an ounce. The session high was $2.013.90 per tonne. Spot platinum jumped to $1,994.50/2,014.50 an ounce in late New York dealings. September palladium settled with $3.0 gains at $452.0 an ounce. Spot palladium advanced to $445.0/453.0 per ounce.