Gold advanced on Thursday after a jump in oil prices triggered bargain buying, but it struggled to sustain early gains, which suggested bullion was not out of the woods yet after tumbling to this year's lows on Tuesday. Other precious metals tracked gold's gains to defy a rising dollar.
Investors await the release of the US July consumer price index and weekly jobless claims data that could set the tone for the greenback. Gold rose to $833.15/834.15 an ounce from $825.85/826.85 late in New York on Wednesday, when it jumped more than 1 percent. The metal was off an eight-month low of $801.90 ounce hit on Tuesday. Gold bars were quoted at a premium of 25 US cents an ounce to the spot London price in Tokyo. Gold bars were on par with London prices last week.
New York gold futures added $6.9 an ounce to $838.4. Spot platinum rose to $1,513.00/1,533.00 an ounce from $1,501.50/1,521.50 late in New York. Spot palladium rose to $323.50/331.50 an ounce from $314.00/322.00 an ounce. Silver edged up to $14.96/15.03 an ounce from $14.82/14.88 late in New York.