Gold rose on Thursday, buoyed by a weaker dollar after minutes from the US Federal Reserve's July meeting showed policymakers were divided over whether to raise interest rates soon. Members of the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee were generally upbeat about the US economy and labor market, but several said any slowdown in future hiring would augur against a near-term hike.
"The markets have decided that the Fed took a rather dovish tone this time," said George Milling-Stanley, Head of Gold Strategy at State Street Global Advisors. "I think that's why the dollar is down and why gold is up." Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,351.98 an ounce by 2:39 pm EDT (1839 GMT), on track for a fourth straight day of gains. US gold settled up 0.6 percent at $1,357.20 per ounce.
"The market has been trying to read into whether Fed official comments for a September rate hike will be repeated by Janet Yellen next week, but there is no clarity yet," Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday lowered COMEX 100 Gold Futures (GC) maintenance margins for speculators by 10 percent to $5,400 per contract from $6,000 for August and September 2016.
Silver was up 0.6 percent at $19.79 an ounce, after touching a more than three-week low on Wednesday. Platinum rose 1.6 percent at $1,130.50, after hitting a three-week low of $1,099.74 in the previous session, while palladium was up 3 percent at $712.70.