Investing.com - Gold prices rallied to a four-week high on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar stepped further away from a 14-year peak against a basket of major currencies following the release of commentary from the Federal Reserve.
Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange touched an intraday peak of $1,179.90 a troy ounce, a level not seen since December 5.
It was last at $1,174.15 by 3:45AM ET (08:45GMT), up $8.85, or 0.75%, after adding $3.30, or 0.3%, a day earlier.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slipped to as low as 101.73, the weakest in three weeks, just two days after it had hit a 14-year high of 103.82.
The index was last at 102.17 in early trade, down 0.3%.
Minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting showed most officials thought the U.S. economy could grow more quickly because of fiscal stimulus by President-elect Donald Trump.
Policymakers were clear that the outlook for stimulus plans remained uncertain, but they could, if implemented, stoke higher inflation which would lead the central bank to raise borrowing costs more aggressively.
At the same time, Fed policymakers "emphasized their considerable uncertainty" about future economic policy changes.
Traders continued to price in two rate hikes this year and slightly less than a 50% chance of a third, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Key U.S. reports later in the day should provide further evidence if the world's largest economy is strong enough to withstand higher borrowing costs in the months ahead.
ADP payrolls data is released at 8:15AM ET (13:15GMT). Economists expect 170,000 private sector payrolls, just below the 178,000 consensus for total December nonfarm payrolls, expected on Friday.
Weekly jobless claims are released at 8:30AM ET, while Markit services PMI is released at 9:45AM ET and ISM non-manufacturing data is released at 10:00AM ET.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery added 5.0 cents, or 0.3%, to $16.60 a troy ounce during morning hours in London.
Meanwhile, platinum rose 1% to $956.55, while palladium slumped 0.6% to $734.20 an ounce.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures dipped 0.2 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $2.555 a pound.