FUNDAMENTALS
Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,814.38 per ounce by 0057 GMT. US gold futures edged up 0.1% at $1,816.40.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields dropped to a near two-week low at 1.2640%, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-interest bearing gold.
Asian shares slipped again as investor risk appetite was soured by fears of rising inflation and a relentless surge in coronavirus cases.
Gold is used as a safe investment during times of political and financial uncertainty. It is also seen as a hedge against inflation.
Many countries, particularly in Asia, are struggling to curb the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus and have been forced into taking lockdown measures.
More than 190.45 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 4,254,285? have died, according to a Reuters tally.
On the physical side, gold in India was sold at a discount last week for the first time in nearly a month as a jump in local prices curbed purchases. Buyers in other major Asian hubs were also put off by higher prices.
SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.6% to 1,028.55 tonnes on Friday, the lowest since May 14.
Speculators raised their net long positions in COMEX gold in the week ended July 13, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
Silver rose 0.2% to $25.72 per ounce, palladium climbed 0.6% to $2,645.98, and
was steady at $1,103.15.
