国际英语新闻：Gold closes lower on IMF sales concerns

CHICAGO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended lower on Thursday as the International Monetary Fund is going to sell more gold to central banks. Silver and platinum both went down.

The most active gold contract for April delivery dropped 1.40 U. S. dollars, or 0.1 percent, to finish at 1,118.70 dollars.

The IMF said on Wednesday it will soon restart sales of 191.3 tons of gold to the open market, weighing the precious metals trend on concerns that gold's supply faces increase.

IMF has sold 212 tons of gold to central banks since September 2009, when its executive board approved the sales of total 403.3 tons. India's central bank purchased 200 tons in early last November, followed by smaller acquisitions from Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

The number of U.S. people filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week. The Labor Department said on Thursday that jobless claims rose by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 473,000, much above economists' expectations of 430,000.

This disappointing data fueled investors' appetite for safe- haven asset of dollar, pushing the greenback to recover from its intraday low and putting additional pressure on gold.

March silver was down 3.8 cents to 16.06 dollars per ounce. April platinum dropped 17.5 dollars to 1,519.60 dollars an ounce.