Gold eased on Thursday as European debt jitters and worries over the US job market extended the metal's losses for a fifth consecutive day. Silver prices ended higher, as the head of metals research firm Thomson Reuters GFMS said silver sales for industrial applications, as well as for jewellery, coins, silverware and photography, should climb 3 to 5 percent this year.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,638.80 an ounce by 2:11 pm EDT (1811 GMT), having traded as high as $1,654.90 an ounce. Gold has dropped around 2 percent during its five-day decline, its longest losing streak since January 2011. US gold futures for June delivery settled up $1.80 an ounce at $1,641.40. The discrepancy between spot and future prices was due to a lower US gold close on Wednesday.
Silver was up 0.3 percent at $31.70 an ounce. Year to date, silver prices are up 13 percent after a 10 percent loss in 2011 had snapped two years of sharp gains. Among other precious metals, spot platinum inched down 46 cents to $1,572.49 an ounce and palladium was up 0.7 percent higher at $659.47 an ounce.
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