Gold prices rise on follow-up to new COVID-19 strain developments

Gold prices rose on Thursday, before the release of US economic data and the follow-up of the latest developments related to the Delta variant of COVID-19.

France decided to postpone the date of easing the measures related to the pandemic due to the outbreak of the Delta strain. Infections are on the rise in Asia.

Meanwhile, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Robert Kaplan, said that it is better for the US central bank to start reducing its support for the economy before the end of this year to reduce the possibility of a sudden tightening of policy later, according to Reuters.

Spot gold rose 0.5% to reach $1,776.94 per ounce, and gold futures contracts for August gained 0.4% to reach $1,777.80 per ounce, by 09:30am GMT.

Elsewhere, silver rose 0.7% to $26.39 per ounce, palladium fell 0.8% to hit $2,758 per ounce, and platinum rose marginally by 0.1% to $1,076.51 per ounce.

The US dollar index - which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six currencies – stabilized at 92.479 points.

The US unemployment claims data for last week is due later today, June 30, with expectations of 388,000, as well as the ISM Manufacturing PMI data in the US for June is expected to hit 61 points.