Gold prices registered gains on Thursday's closing as investors scrambled to secure bullion purchases in anticipation of the August job data that could lead to a tottering US labour market and the expected rush for the safe-haven investments.

Yet the bits of encouraging economic indicators, with lower unemployment benefits and higher home sales numbers, slightly dampened hopes of better returns as the latest data held back any runaway gains on gold prices.

As of 0332 AEST, gold bullion fetched $US1,251.25 an ounce and improving from $US1,243.50 while US December gold futures jumped by $5.30 or 0.42 percent to settle at $US1,253.40 an ounce and barely breaching the Wednesday mark of $US1,256.60, the highest posted so far since June 28.

The precious metal's spot prices peaked to a two-month high at $US1,254.65 as fresh US data had indicated that its economy would be seeing further sluggish movement despite some gains, with most economists assuming that an attending soft labour market could fuel more rallying on safe-haven gold buying as they asserted that more economic worries would only maintain the determined run for the secured bid.

New York's SPDR Gold Trust revealed that its reserves were further shored up from 1,302.508 tonnes in the end of August to 1,304.028 tonnes as September started, following the deposits recovery in August from the declines seen in July.

Such roller-coaster movements on the world's largest gold-backed ETF, according to analysts, pointed to investors' tendency to accumulate physically backed bullion products as a form of buffer that could see them through amidst the economic and financial market instability.

Also, silver prices went up to $19.64 per ounce against $US19.32 as the ratio of gold to silver dipped to a three-month low at 64.29, which is the amount of ounces required to purchase an ounce of gold, while holdings of the largest silver-backed ETF, the iShares Silver Trust shot up to 53.27 tonnes on Wednesday.

Other metals registered gains too as platinum prices improved at $US1,551.50 per ounce from $US1,528 while palladium soared to $US525.25 per ounce from $US516.