09:40 AM EDT, 03/13/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Gold traded higher on Thursday even as the dollar rose after another report showed U.S. inflation cooled last month.

Gold for April delivery was last seen up US$6.20 to US$2,953.00 per ounce.

The rise comes as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the February Producer Price Index (PPI), a wholesale price measure, rose at a 3.2% annualized pace in February, down from 3.7% a month earlier and under the FactSet consensus estimate for a 3.3% reading. Core PPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, fell 0.1% from January, down from a 0.5% rise that month and again under the consensus estimate for a monthly rise of 0.3%.

The data follows on Wednesday's release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index, which rose prices at a less than expected 2.8% annualized rate last month, down from 3.0% in January.

Slowing inflation is raising some expectations for further rate cuts from the Federal Reserve that would lower the carrying cost of owning gold, even as U.S. President Donald Trump launches inflationary trade wars that have mostly yet to take effect and are boosting safe haven buying.

"President Trump's rapid move to announce, if not always to enact, import tariffs has contributed to geopolitical uncertainty and boosted inflation expectations, helping push down front end real rates and supporting gold in the face of periodic USD strength and initially reduced expectations for Fed rate cuts," Macquarie Group noted as it raised its price forecast for the metal, seeing it trading at an average US$3,150 in the third quarter, up from US$2,650.

The dollar moved higher, bearish for commodities priced in the currency. The ICE dollar index was last seen up 0.46 points to 104.08. Treasury yields also rose, with the yield on U.S. two-year note last seen up 1.8 basis points to 4.009%, while the 10-year note was paying 4.342%, up 2.7 points.