Gold edged higher in a see-saw session on Thursday as weak US economic data and a key weekend vote in Greece prompted bullion investors to cautiously add bullish bets. Some investors sought refuge in gold as Spain and Italy, two large euro-zone economies plagued by debt problems, on Thursday promised new measures to fix their public finances as soaring borrowing costs raised new alarms.
Gold drew support from US data showing that new claims for jobless benefits rose and consumer prices fell in May. That data was seen as opening the door wider for the Federal Reserve at its policy meeting next week to help an economy that appears to be weakening.
"The data out this morning re-ignited the possibility of further US easing, and that's supportive to gold. The market has been characterised with a lot of volatility due to market speculations about Federal Reserve monetary easing," said James Steel, metals analyst at HSBC.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,619.60 an ounce by 12:40 pm EDT (1640 GMT). A higher finish on Thursday would extend the metal's winning streak to a fifth consecutive day. US COMEX gold futures for August delivery climbed $1.20 to $1,620.60.
Spot gold's volatility was magnified by active trading in the US gold futures as markets positioned themselves ahead of an election in Greece on Sunday, dealers said. Gold has gained nearly 2 percent so far this week, underpinned by the speculation the Federal Reserve would unveil a new asset-purchase program, known as quantitative easing, after Wednesday's weak retail and wholesale inflation data.
The metal had rallied as much as 15 percent after the Fed in January said it would keep rates near zero until at least late 2014, but gold has since tumbled several times after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke did not mention further easing in his Congressional testimonies. Among other precious metals, silver was down 1.3 percent at $28.56 an ounce, while spot platinum rose 1.5 percent to $1,481.74 an ounce and spot palladium gained 2 percent to $629.47 an ounce.