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Gold rose for a fourth straight session on Thursday, buoyed by a weaker dollar after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's July meeting showed several members expressing caution over hiking interest rates soon.

The minutes showed that members of the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee were generally upbeat about the U.S. economy and labour market, but several said any slowdown in future hiring would argue against a near-term hike.

"Most market participants are now expecting a December rate hike at the earliest. That means that people are on the side of buying gold," said Yuichi Ikemizu, head of commodity trading at Standard Bank in Tokyo. "Nobody would be willing to sell gold aggressively even if there is a hike in rates, with the U.S. presidential elections in November creating uncertainty."

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 94.448, after plunging to as low as 94.385, the lowest in more than seven weeks. The index has lost over 1 percent so far this week.

CME on Wednesday lowered COMEX 100 Gold Futures (GC) maintenance margins for speculators by 10 percent to $5,400 per contract from $6,000 for August and September 2016.

Reference: Reuters