* Gold hits 4-week high, December breaks above 50-day MA
* Gold rallies after jobless claims trigger buy-stops
* GLD ETF holdings rise first time in a week
* Coming up: U.S. consumer price index data Friday
(Recasts, adds comments, updates prices to market close)
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Gold rallied 1.5 percent to
its biggest one-day rally in more than two months on Thursday,
as higher-than-expected U.S. jobless claims prompted a surge of
buying in perceived safe-haven assets.
Gold prices hit a four-week high despite two days of sharp
equity market losses, after the Federal Reserve downgraded its
economic outlook and said it needed to buy government debt to
boost a flagging economy.
Earlier on Thursday, gold jumped about $10 in the minutes
after data showed the number of U.S. workers filing new claims
for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week to a
near six-month high, signaling a weak job market.
"With the weak job report, and everything else we heard in
the past couple of days, you are finding safe-haven bid in
gold," said Fred Schoenstein, trader at Heraeus Precious Metals
Management in New York.
Schoenstein also cited a "very strong technical signal" in
the U.S. December contract after it closed above key resistance
at its 50-day moving average at $1,214.30 an ounce.
(Graphic: http://link.reuters.com/zag74n)
Bullion largely rangebounded this week after the Fed's
reassessment, but it finally broke out on Thursday as its
appeal as an alternative asset increased due to a stock market
swoon. The S&P 500 was down more than 3 percent so far this
week.
Gold for December delivery on COMEX <GCZ0> settled up
$17.50, or 1.5 percent, at $1,216.70 an ounce. It was
December's biggest one-day percentage gain since June 7.
Gold <XAU=> was at $1,214.75 an ounce by 3:09 p.m. EDT
(1909 GMT), against $1,197 late in New York on Wednesday, still
nearly 5 percent below late June's lifetime high around
$1,264.
Earlier this week, data showed the U.S. trade gap
surprisingly widened in June, suggesting economic growth was
weaker than previously thought. In China, a government-induced
slowdown in investment took a toll on imports, threatening to
derail global economic recovery. []
[]
Wall Street came under pressure for a second day after
weaker jobless claims data. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll
showed almost two-thirds of Americans believe the U.S. economy
will worsen before it gets better. []
Traders also cited a bullish research note from Goldman
Sachs, which upgraded its forecast for the gold price, as a
driver to the rally in the price on Thursday.
"The recent sell-off has left speculative long positions in
gold oversold relative to U.S. real interest rates, which we
believe has set the stage for a rally to our six-month gold
price target of $1,300/ounce," Goldman said.
The metal rose as the dollar extended the previous day's
strong gains due to risk aversion and weaker-than-expected
Greek economic data.
The correlation between gold and the U.S. currency has been
erratic so far this year, as the metal and the dollar both
benefited from safe-haven demand due to fears about global
growth at times. []
GLD HOLDINGS RISE
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD.P>, said its holdings rose for the first time
in a week. []
Silver <XAG=> benefited from gold's rise, and was at $18.03
an ounce, up from $17.84 the day before.
Spot platinum <XPT=> was at $1,525.50 an ounce, down around
1.5 percent from the levels late in New York on Wednesday, but
up from an intraday low of $1,500.75. Palladium <XPD=> was at
$466, versus $477.00 Wednesday.
Sentiment among PGMs traders should improve after General
Motors [] posted its biggest quarterly profit in six
years. []
Prices at 4:26 p.m. EDT (2026 GMT)
LAST/ NET PCT YTD
CLOSE CHG CHG CHG
US gold <GCZ0> 1216.70 17.50 1.5% 11.0%
US silver <SIU0> 18.065 0.163 0.0% 7.2%
US platinum <PLV0> 1531.60 11.00 0.7% 4.1%
US palladium <PAU0> 471.05 6.35 1.4% 15.2%
Gold <XAU=> 1214.55 17.55 1.5% 10.8%
Silver <XAG=> 18.05 0.21 1.2% 7.2%
Platinum <XPT=> 1526.50 -19.50 -1.3% 4.2%
Palladium <XPD=> 467.00 -10.00 -2.1% 15.2%
Gold Fix <XAUFIX=> 1213.00 13.00 1.1% 9.9%
Silver Fix <XAGFIX=> 17.92 -20.00 -1.1% 5.5%
Platinum Fix <XPTFIX=> 1524.00 13.00 0.9% 4.0%
Palladium Fix <XPDFIX=> 469.00 4.00 0.9% 16.7%
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Lewa
Pardomuan in Singapore; editing by Lisa Shumaker)
