Chicago, Oct 16 (IANS): Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Thursday as technical trading gave support to the precious metal after the release of inflation data.

The most active gold contract for December delivery rose $7.7, or 0.65 percent, to settle at $1,187.50 per ounce, reported Xinhua.

Gold was given support by technical trading after a report from the US Department of Labor showed the Consumer Price Index falling by 0.2 percent.

Analysts believe this indicates to traders that there is a further decreasing chance for the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by the end of 2015.

The two Fed targets are for approximately 5 percent unemployment, and for 2 percent inflation. While analysts note that inflation is up slightly in the year-over-year report, it has not yet met the central bank's 2 percent requirement.

The CME Group's Fedwatch tool shows only a 30 percent chance of an interest rate increase during the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The precious metal was put under pressure as the US Department of Labor's weekly jobless claims showed initial jobless claims falling by 7,000 during the October 10 week to 255,000.

Analysts note that this matches the lowest level in 42 years. As a result, expectations have been raised for the October employment report.

As a result of the positive US data, the US Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of major currencies, gained 0.51 percent to 94.39 as of 1807 GMT.

Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.

Silver for December delivery rose 4.7 cents, or 0.29 percent, to close at $16.164 per ounce. Platinum for January delivery added $11.6, or 1.17 percent, to close at $1,007.0 per ounce.