CHICAGO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Wednesday as worse-than-expected retail sales data raised worries on economy recession. However, Silver and platinum both went down.

    Gold price for June delivery gained 2 U.S. dollars, or 0.2 percent, to settle at 925.90 dollars an ounce.

    The Commerce Department reported the retail sales edged down 0.4 percent in April compared to an upwardly revised 1.3 percent decline in March, despite economists had estimated retail sales to remain unchanged.

    The negative data reignited investors' concerns on economic recession although more and more evidences indicate the economy is bottoming out of the most serious recession since 1930s. Investors paid much more attention to these numbers because consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. Without improved spending, it is difficult to define the so-called recovery.

    The unexpected data also pressured on the stock market as the Dow industrials ever plummeted more than 200 points during gold floor trading session. The precious metal's appeal of hedging economic turmoil came back to the market and helped gold end higher.

    Meanwhile, the Labor Department said April import prices rose 1.6 percent following a revised 0.2 percent growth in the previous month, mainly sparked by a 15.4 percent increase in petroleum import prices. Worries on inflation gave gold some supports, too.

    However, a strong dollar limited gold's gain with the rate against euro climbing more than 1 cent to intraday high of 1.3570 dollars shortly after gold floor trading closed.

    July silver finished at 14.02 dollars per ounce, down 19.5 cents. July platinum fell 8.90 dollars to 1123.20 dollars an ounce.