WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After closing higher for two straight sessions, the price of gold turned in a lackluster performance during the trading day on Thursday.
Gold for April delivery eventually ended the session up $0.80 at $1,722.60 an ounce after climbing $4.90 to $1,721.80 an ounce in the previous session.
The choppy trading came despite a decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar, with the U.S. dollar index falling by 0.4 percent to 91.43.
The drop by the dollar came as the House passed a $1.9 trillion relief package, which President Joe Biden later signed into law.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell to a four-month low in the week ended March 6th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 712,000, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week's revised level of 754,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 725,000 from the 745,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 711,000 in the week ended November 7th.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX