WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices edged higher on Thursday, giving front-month futures contracts a positive close for a third successive session, as the dollar weakened due to a strong Euro.
The Euro stayed firm after the European Central Bank left its policy rates unchanged and the bank's President Christine Lagarde said the governing council of the bank extensively discussed the implications of a strong euro and added that the policymakers did not see an immediate need to act on it. She reiterated that the ECB does not target the exchange rate.
The dollar index, which dropped to a low of 92.70 around mid morning, recovered subsequently and was last seen at 93.18, down 0.08% from previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar was down nearly 0.5% at $1.1849, after falling to a low of $1.1917 earlier in the session.
Gold futures for December ended up $9.40 or about 0.5% at $1,964.30 an ounce.
Silver futures for December moved up $0.208 to $27.291 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $2.9985 per pound, down $0.0530 from previous close.
In U.S. economic news, first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in unchanged in the week ended September 5th, the Labor Department revealed in a report.
The report said initial jobless claims came in at 884,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 846,000 from the 881,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average fell to 970,750, a decrease of 21,750 from the previous week's revised average of 992,500.
Another report from the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the month of August, with the index for final demand rising by 0.3%, after climbing by 0.6% in July. Economists had expected prices to edge up by 0.2%.
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