Gold for December delivery was down $4.0, or 0.4%, at $940.60 an ounce in electronic trade. It earlier fell to a low of $938.50 and rose to a high of $947.30. In the U.S., the Labor Department said jobless claims rose by 15,000 to 576,000 in the latest week. The four-week average of initial claims also rose, by 4,250 to 570,000, and continuing claims climbed as well. For the week ending Aug. 8, continuing claims rose by 2,000 to 6.24 million. It was also the highest since July 25. The report further lifted the U.S. dollar which, along with other low-yielding currencies, has tended to benefit from safe haven flows. At the same time, a firmer dollar pressures dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil and gold. The dollar index (DXY 78.60, +0.14, +0.17%) , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 78.617, up from 78.485 late Wednesday. Earlier Thursday, Germany's finance ministry warned in a monthly report that it remains unclear whether the stabilization of the economy will hold, news reports said. And Bank of Japan board member Atsushi Mizuno told business executives in western Japan that the country's export recovery could slow in the autumn, and that a sustained recovery would require "support from governments and central banks," Reuters reported.

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