Gold prices rose on Thursday after falling more than 3% in the previous session, helped by a weaker dollar and bargain hunting, while market attention remained focused on the latest news on U.S.-China trade relations.

Spot gold was up 1.4% at $3,333.90 an ounce, as of 1:46 p.m. EDT (1746 GMT). Bullion hit a record high of $3,500.05 on Tuesday on concerns about the U.S. economy, but prices fell on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump walked back his threat to fire the Federal Reserve chief and appeared to soften his stance on China.

U.S. gold futures settled 1.7% higher at $3,348.60. "Right now, the whole market is one story, tariffs. China is playing the angry party," which is sending the dollar down and gold up, said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader.

"Gold's rally to $3,500 is a bit overdone and needs a bit of a pullback to digest. Gold looks set to trade sideways for the next few sessions, but we are in a bull market so a significant pullback is bound to happen.

In other markets, stocks moved and the dollar rebound lost traction as investors tried to make sense of Trump's change of heart. A weaker dollar and risk-off sentiment tend to make safe-haven bullion more attractive to investors.

China called for all "unilateral" U.S. tariffs to be scrapped, and clarified that it has not held trade talks with Washington despite repeated comments from the U.S. administration suggesting there had been some engagement.

Meanwhile, data showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, suggesting the labor market remains resilient despite the dark clouds hanging over the economy caused by tariffs on imported goods.

Among other metals, spot silver fell 0.1% to $33.51 an ounce, platinum fell 0.1% to $971.60 and palladium rose 0.4% to $947.93. (Newsmaker23)

Source: Reuters