WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Thursday, regaining ground following the nosedive seen during yesterday's session.
After plummeting $124.50 or 3.7 percent to $3,276.30 an ounce on Wednesday, gold for April delivery surged $55.70 or 1.7 percent to $3,332 an ounce.
The rebound by the price of gold may partly have reflected bargain hunting following yesterday's slump, although the precious metal remains well off the record intraday high set early on Tuesday.
Gold also benefitted from a pullback by the value of the U.S. dollar, with the U.S. dollar index falling 0.4 percent following the rebound seen over the two previous days.
Ongoing trade uncertainty may also have increased the safe haven appeal of gold after comments from a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson that partly offset optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal.
Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson He Yadong told reporters there are currently 'absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the U.S,' according to a CNBC translation.
He added that 'all sayings' regarding progress on bilateral talks should be dismissed and said the U.S. should cancel all 'unilateral' tariffs on China if it really wants to resolve the problem.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged modestly higher in the week ended April 19th.
The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 222,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 216,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 221,000 from the 215,000 originally reported for the previous week.
A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged much more than expected in the month of March amid a spike by orders for transportation equipment.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a steep drop by U.S. existing home sales in the month of March.
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