Gold futures remained steady on Thursday in reaction to positive US jobs data and better than expected consumer sentiment.  As per the latest data of US Labor Department, the jobless claims declined 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted figure of 364,000 for the week ending December 17^th, 2011. The Conference Board disclosed that the US economy is expected to further grow in the current quarter; moreover index of leading economic indicators increased 0.5 percent in the month of November.

University of Michigan released its consumer sentiment index for the month of December which stood at 69.9 as compared to 64.1 for the month of November.

Senior analyst, Darin Newsom from Telvent DTN commented, “Weekly jobless claims, December consumer sentiment and November leading economic indicators all came in better than expected, this continued to take a little bit of the ‘safe-haven’ wind out of gold’s sail.”

Gold futures contract for February delivery slightly declined 0.2 percent or $3 to settle at $1,610.60 per ounce on the Comex trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Copper futures for March delivery gained 0.6 percent or $0.02 to settle at $3.42 per pound while Silver futures contract for March delivery declined 0.7 percent or $0.20 to $29.05 per ounce.

Platinum futures contract for January delivery declined 0.5 percent or $7.30 to $1,424.40 per ounce while palladium’s March contract gained 3.2 percent or $20.30 to settle at $654.34 per ounce.