Gold races past $1,800/oz as bond yields, dollar retreat

By Eileen Soreng

(Reuters) - Gold jumped over 1% on Thursday with a weaker dollar and easing Treasury yields propelling it over the key $1,800 psychological level.

Spot gold rose 1.5% to $1,813.29 per ounce by 11:07 a.m. EDT (1507 GMT). During the session it hit $1,815.80, its highest since Feb. 16. U.S. gold futures gained 1.7% to $1,814.50.

"We really have yet to see a strong rebound in Treasury yields," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Despite the economic optimism, Federal Reserve policymakers seem unlikely to budge on their accommodative stance yet and investor inflation fears should boost gold, Moya added.

The Fed plans to keep borrowing costs near 0% and maintain monthly asset purchases worth $120 billion until it sees "substantial further progress" towards full employment and its 2% flexible inflation target.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields slipped.

The dollar index fell 0.4%, making gold more attractive for those holding other currencies.

At a time of heavy government stimulus, gold is considered a hedge against potential inflation, but elevated Treasury yields have dulled the non-yielding bullion's appeal this year.

"Above $1,800 it gives the bulls fresh technical power, gives them momentum and I think the path of least resistance for prices is now going to be sideways to higher for the near term," said Kitco Metals senior analyst Jim Wyckoff.

Gold's uptick also came despite data showing weekly jobless claims dropped to a 13-month low.

Focus now shifts to Friday's U.S. monthly jobs report, which is expected to show non-farm payrolls increased by 978,000 last month.

Meanwhile, palladium fell 1.7% to $2,923.07 per ounce, having scaled an all-time high of $3,017.18 on Tuesday on strained supplies for the autocatalyst metal.

Silver climbed 3.1% to $27.33 per ounce. Platinum gained 1.4% to $1,241.61.

(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)