Gold prices firm as U.S. Treasury yields slide

Shafaq News/ Gold prices gained on Monday, after posting a 6% drop last week, as a retreat in U.S. Treasury yields bolstered the non-yielding metal's appeal.

Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,771.98 per ounce by 0511 GMT, while U.S. gold futures edged up 0.3% to $1,772.5 per ounce.

The real yields are falling helping gold prices to stabilize and attempt a rebound, said Margaret Yang, a strategist at DailyFX, adding "investors are also taking this as an opportunity to buy the dip in view of rising inflationary pressure."

"In the near term, downward momentum may prevail."

The benchmark U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest since late February, reducing the opportunity cost of holding bullion, which pays no return.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar held near multi-month peaks against other major currencies on Monday.

Last week, gold posted its worst weekly performance since March 2020 after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled a sooner-than-expected tightening in its monetary policy.

Investors would now be watching closely for comments from several Fed officials who will be speaking this week, including Chair Jerome Powell, who testifies before Congress on Tuesday.

"The (gold) market is probably going to base around here for a little bit to digest this week's commentaries," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, adding that investors are probably going to focus on inflation and jobs data because that is the Fed's dual mandate.

The Fed reiterated last week that it wanted to see "substantial further progress" in employment before making any policy shifts.

On the technical front, spot gold may retest a resistance $1,797 per ounce, a break above which could lead to a gain to $1,825, according to according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Silver rose 0.2% to $25.83 per ounce, palladium rose 0.8% to per ounce, while platinum fell 0.7% to $1,026.51.

Source: Reuters