Gold Inches Higher Amid Modest Pullback By U.S. Dollar

(RTTNews) - Following the steep drop seen in the previous session, the price of gold showed a modest move back to the upside during trading on Thursday.

Gold for February delivery rose $7.20 or 0.4 percent to $2,050 an ounce after plunging $30.60 to $2,042.80 an ounce during Wednesday's session.

The uptick by the precious metal came amid a modest pullback by the value of the U.S. dollar, with the U.S. dollar index edging down by 0.1 percent after moving notably higher over the past few days.

Meanwhile, traders were also looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 170,000 jobs in December after jumping by 199,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate is expected to inch up to 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent.

Payroll processor ADP released a report this morning showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of December.

ADP said private sector employment climbed by 164,000 jobs in December after rising by a downwardly revised 101,000 jobs in November.

Economists had expected private sector employment to grow by 115,000 jobs compared to the addition of 103,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by much more than expected in the week ended December 30th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims declined to 202,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level of 220,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 216,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week.