The price of gold was moving higher towards a two-month high Thursday morning as traders speculate physical demand will help support bullion prices after recent data revealed higher gold consumption in India and China. Gold consumption in India rose to 310 tonnes in the second quarter ended June to hit its highest level in the last 10 years, a WGC report revealed today. Earlier this week, the China Gold Association said China consumed 706.36 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2013, up 54 percent from the year-ago period.
Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, edged up $2.80 to $1,336.20 an ounce. Yesterday, gold settled higher on bargain buying and with the dollar trading lower against a basket of select currencies. Some soft economic data from the U.S. also supported the precious metal with producer prices coming in unchanged. Nonetheless, anxiety over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans to tone down its quantitative easing program in the near future capped big gains.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was leveling-off from its 2-week high versus the euro, while extending its 2-month low against sterling. The buck was hovering near its 2-week high versus the Swiss franc, while trading flat against the yen. In economic news from the euro zone, U.K. retail sales growth accelerated more than expected in July reflecting robust food store sales, data showed. Including automotive fuel, retail sales advanced 1.1 percent from prior month, following a 0.2 percent rise in June, the Office for National Statistics said. The rate of growth was expected to rise moderately to 0.7 percent.
Elsewhere, the prices of silver and platinum were moving higher in morning deals. From the U.S, the Labor Department will release its jobless claims report at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect claims to have declined to 330,000 in the week ended August 10 from 333,000 in the previous week.
Simultaneously, the Labor Department will also release its consumer price inflation report for July. The consensus estimates call for a 0.2 percent increases each in consumer prices and core consumer prices.
The New York Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the results of its manufacturing survey for August at 8:30 a.m ET. Economists expect the index to have risen to 10 in August from 9.46 in July.

Source: RTT Staff Writer
Source :Bullion Bulletin