Gold climbed to a high of $938an ounce and settled at $936 an ounce on COMEX on Thursday, tracking hefty gains in oil, as a string of solid corporate earnings reports boosted Wall Street equities as well as interest in higher risk assets.

Silver future outperformed gold in terms of percentage rise. It rose by 1.25 and 1.69 percent on MCX and COMEX respectively.

Overall demand in India remains weak. The country's gold imports have reached a provisional 8-10 tonnes in July so far, well below the 24 tonnes recorded last June, the Bombay Bullion Association said.

The People's Bank of China pledged to maintain loose monetary policy and use market tools, not quota-style controls, to ensure sustainable credit growth that will support economic recovery.

Thai gold futures market makers can now trade futures contracts that have gold or gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as the underlying assets in foreign exchanges, each with the asset limit of USD5 million. The Thailand Futures Exchange
(TFEX) also appointed T. C. Ausiris Futures Co., Ltd. to be a gold futures market maker, starting August 3, 2009.

On the supply side, the world's largest gold producer, Barrick Gold, said it produced 1.87 million ounces of gold in the second quarter and is on track to meet its 2009 output target of 7.2-7.6 million ounces.

Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves rose to $402.4 billion on July 24 from $398.1 billion the previous week, central bank data showed on Thursday. Russia holds the world's third-largest reserves.

Precious metals: We do not expect any upside in gold today from these levels. Silver may inch up on the back of rise in industrial metals. We recommend buying in silver at dips.