NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - COMEX gold prices rose to their highest level since June 18 and silver rallied to levels not seen in over a year, in what traders described as mostly a technical move, with dollar weakness to spark the buying.
"There has been incremental investment into the (gold) sector, and the positive price performance we've seen over the last few days is obviously still around. Technically oriented traders were the featured buyers today," said one dealer.
"People who use chart systems have been responsible for the (gold) bidding over the last few days," aother dealer said.
Brokers said trade and fund buyers came in to grab gold on its early declines, which then triggered stop-loss buy orders.
One trader said, "there was no further selling after that and those who were looking to buy came to (the gold) market."
August gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division closed with $3.60 gains at $362.30 an ounce, after an earlier ascent to its highest level since June 18. Thursday's range ran between $356.00 to $363.90 an ounce.
Final COMEX gold volume was estimated at a whopping 92,000 lots, after a heavy 79,272 contracts traded on Wednesday.
Wednesday's open interest rose 8,323 lots to 201,171.
Some brokers said they saw the same buyers who came into the gold market at $349.8 also buying August gold on Thursday at the $356 and $357 an ounce dip.
While some traders said they think gold's year high is in, they still see some scope to the upside in the near term, especially if the dollar continues to lose ground to the euro.
The dollar got early strength from a better-than-expected weekly jobless claims report, which offered gold players an opportunity to buy at the session lows.
By late Thursday, the euro traded at $1.1464/68, off the day's high at $1.1511, a level not seen since July 3, but still at the high end of its weekly chart.
Traders said strength in the euro has been a key factor driving gold higher. A stronger euro makes dollar-denominated gold attractive for European investors.
"There are those in the gold market who have an eye on the currencies. And to the extent that they have a view on the dollar, and that seems to be negative for some, they are likewise positive for gold. So, it is having an influence," said one New York gold dealer.
Spot gold jumped to $361.25/2.00 from $358.10/8.85 an ounce late Wednesday. London dealers fixed the afternoon spot reference price at $357.30 an ounce.
COMEX September silver jumped 4.00 cents to end at $5.11 an ounce, a fresh one-year high. Thursday's action ran from $5.01 to $5.17 an ounce.
COMEX estimated silver volume at a heavy 45,000 lots on Thursday, after Wednesday's volume of 44,007. Open interest was up 5,812 at 94,847 lots.
Brokers said trade and fund buying at the lows drove silver through key resistance at $5.10 which sent it on to the highs.
Spot silver pushed up to $5.09/11 an ounce from its $5.01/03 late Wednesday quote. Silver was fixed at $5.06.
October platinum futures finished $3.10 higher at $696.60 an ounce. Spot platinum rose to $694.00/699.00.
September palladium rose $1.50 to end at $169.00 an ounce. Spot was quoted higher at $166.00/171.00.