Gold prices surged higher on Thursday as Treasury yields dropped a bit and the dollar turned in a somewhat sluggish performance after recent gains.
Concerns about the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and rising inflation pushed up the demand for the safe-haven commodity.
Speculation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 50 basis points at its next two meetings limited gold's upside.
The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury note dropped to around 2.57%. Bond yields in the U.K. and Germany too dropped a bit amid speculation China will likely announce stimulus measures as early as next week.
Gold futures for June ended higher by $14.70 or about 0.8% at $1,937.80 an ounce, the highest close since March 31.
Silver futures for May ended up by $0.277 at $24.735 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.6995 per pound, down $0.0385 from the previous close.
Data released by the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims in the U.S. dipped to 166,000, in the week ended April 2nd, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 171,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 200,000 from the 202,000 originally reported for the previous week.
