New York
Gold edged higher on Monday after its biggest weekly rise in five weeks, with political turmoil in the United States fuelling demand for bullion as a safe haven and reducing expectations of aggressive US interest rate rises this year.
Spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at $1,255.96 an ounce by 1058 GMT, while US gold futures firmed by 0.2 per cent to $1,255.80.
The metal rose 2.2 per cent last week as the furore over US President Donald Trump’s alleged links to Russia and his firing of former FBI chief James Comey raised concerns about his ability to push through promised fiscal stimulus.
That caused a rush to safe-haven assets such as gold and drove US stocks, the dollar and US bond yields lower, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and making gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Stocks and bond yields have recouped some losses, but the dollar touched a six-month low on Monday.
Gold investors were looking to news from Washington, said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
“If this escalates further and impeachment claims intensify, Trump will find it very difficult to push forward his ambitious tax cut and infrastructure spending plans,” Fritsch told the Reuters Global Gold Forum on Monday.
INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said: “This should be bullish for gold since it should keep the [US] Federal Reserve more dovish on the rate front for a little while longer.”
Higher interest rates would pressure gold prices because they raise bond yields and tend to boost the dollar.
Futures traders are pricing in a 75 per cent chance of a June increase to interest rates, down from about a 90 per cent chance earlier this month, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.
St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Friday that expected rate increases may be too fast for an economy that has shown recent signs of weakness.
However, Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke believes that a June increase remains highly likely.
“We expect the dollar to strengthen again and that should cap the upside to gold from here,” he said, adding that the metal is likely to dip to $1,200 over the next three months.
Investors’ net long positions in COMEX gold, meanwhile,/shave fallen to a two-month low, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.
In other precious metals, silver was up 0.9 per cent at $16.96 an ounce, having touched $17.13 an ounce, its highest since May 1.
Platinum was up 0.2 per cent at $940.10 and palladium gained 0.1 per cent at $760.20.
