Agencies-Gaza post
Gold hits 4-week high vs dollar
Gold flies to a 4-week high on Monday, boosted by a weakening dollar while investors await more economic data that could determine the future pace of higher interest rates.
By 10:03 GMT, the price of gold in spot transactions had risen by 0.5% to $1773.05 per ounce, the highest since early July.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% at $1,787.50.
The dollar fell making gold less expensive for foreign investors, but rising 10-year U.S. Treasury yields biased bullion gains that don’t yield a yield.
“The weakness of the dollar will make it easier for gold to achieve more gains even though today’s rising nominal and real yields on U.S. Treasury bonds hamper bullion’s ability to sustain last week’s gains,” said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Exiniti.
Gold rose 2.2% last week, its best performance since March after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell struck a relatively less stringent tone following an expected 75 basis point rate hike.
Gold found some support from current weak economic data, including an unexpected contraction in the U.S. economy during the second quarter, and a slowdown in manufacturing activity in the eurozone.
The US jobs report, which will be announced on Friday, will be closely watched for its potential impact on interest rate hikes.
For other special metals, silver increased 0.76% to $20.35 per ounce, while platinum rose 1.7% to $904.90. Palladium jumped 1.6% to $2,162.89.
