Gold prices were a touch higher on Thursday in thin trading, but gains were limited by US jobless claims data which showed continued recovery in the labour market and conciliatory comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine. "These data releases give gold a boost now and again as they are seen as restraining the more hawkish Fed governors, though they haven't ever been enough to change medium-term expectations for the US economy or gold," Turner said.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent on the day to $1,313.39 an ounce by 3:07 pm US COMEX gold futures for December delivery settled up $1.20 at $1,315.70, with trading volume about 35 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.2 percent at $19.86 an ounce. Platinum edged up 0.1 percent to $1,461.93 an ounce, while palladium gained 0.7 percent to $880.25 an ounce.