Gold loses ground as dollar firms; investors eye US stimulus

Gold prices on Monday retreated from an all-time high hit in the last session as the dollar hovered near a one-week peak, while investors awaited an agreement on a US relief bill to help the pandemic-hit economy.

Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,030.26 per ounce by 2:09 p.m. EDT (1809 GMT), having hit a record high of $2,072.50 on Friday. US gold futures settled up 0.6% at $2,039.70.

"This is just a natural pullback in this uptrend, people are just taking profits because gold has had such a fast move upwards and the dollar has been up for the past two days," said Michael Matousek, head trader at US Global Investors.

"But the move in dollar is minimal, which tells you that there's not much conviction in the dollar getting higher and that's why this pullback in gold should be shallow."

The dollar held near a one-week peak as investors focus on the US aid package and US-China meeting on Aug. 15, as tensions mount between the world's two largest economies.

Gold got a slight lift earlier after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an agreement could be reached on a relief bill this week, but the metal erased gains after he declined to say when talks could resume.

"The governments around the world are not going to stop printing money to fight COVID in the short term and gold will benefit from that. Gold's next target is $2,090 per ounce," said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.

Bullion has surged 34% this year amid mounting COVID-19 cases, which have battered global economies and prompted unprecedented stimulus measures.

Silver jumped as much as 3.9% and was last up 3.2% at $29.20 per ounce, platinum rose 2.8% to $988.53, after hitting its highest level since Feb. 20 at $1,002.25.

Palladium climbed 2.7% to $2,234.59.