NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - COMEX gold stretched a gain early Thursday as the dollar sagged on news that U.S. claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week, but interest was expected to dwindle quickly before the long Easter weekend.
The NYMEX and COMEX will trade regular hours on Thursday but the bond market closes early and U.S. exchanges will be closed for Good Friday. Some traders were at home for the Passover holiday.
COMEX June gold at 9: 16 a.m. was up $1.30 at $327.60 an ounce, holding in a tight $326.50-$328.30 range.
Futures jumped higher at the open after the Labor Department said jobless claims rose to 442,000 in the week ended April 12, from 412,000 the week before.
"It definitely gave us a boost," said a floor broker. "When the number came out we made new highs. There were buy stops that helped drive us a little bit higher."
"A lot of people are bullish out here and that's mostly because the dollar has been slightly weaker this week," he said, adding that a lack of speculative trading and orders suggested that activity in the pits would dry up before the end of the session.
Gold was groping for direction as the focus is turning to the economy now that the White House has all but declared military victory in Iraq and moved onto post-war reconstruction and the political phase of its plan for the country.
Prices seemed comfortable in a $320-$330 range, enjoying good support from physical buyers from India, the Middle East and Asia.
The euro hit a one-month high at $1.0997, in sight of the four-year peak from March 11 at $1.1084, which made dollar-priced bullion more attractive for European investors.
The Dow Jones industrial stock average gyrated tightly after the open, with investors torn by the weak labor data and encouraging financial results from mobile phone maker Nokia and others.
Spot gold was quoted at $326.90/7.65, up from Wednesday's close at $325.65/7.15. London gold dealers fixed the morning spot reference price at $326.10 an ounce.
"With the Easter weekend upon us, most professional activity has been confined to book squaring, although the tone in the market is comparatively positive," Rhona O'Connell, director of market research at the World Gold Council, wrote on Thursday.
May silver was unchanged at $4.485, trading $4.495-$4.475. Spot silver was unchanged at $4.48/50 and fixed at $4.48.
June palladium set another low at $145 an ounce then steadied to stand up $2.40 at $150.90. Spot palladium was near a six-year low, quoted at $148.00/153.00
The metal, used mainly in catalytic converters, has been in near collapse as the weak economy cut into auto sales and car makers drew down bloated inventories carried since palladium spiked to all time highs above $1,000 an ounce two years ago.
Because of erratic supplies from Russia, the main source of palladium, in recent years, car makers have been substituting platinum and rhodium whenever possible in emissions control systems, even though supply from Russia has become somewhat more reliable.
NYMEX July platinum was up $9.50 at $623.50 an ounce. Spot platinum was quoted $630.000/635.00.