Gold rises, erasing losses as dollar retreats from highs

Gold rose on Monday, erasing early losses as the dollar retreated from a two-month peak ahead of the US presidential debates this week, although a stock market rebound capped gains in bullion.

Spot gold gained 1.0% to $1,878.33 per ounce by 2:07 p.m. EDT (1807 GMT), while US gold futures settled up 0.9% at $1,882.30.

"Gold has started to recuperate losses as the dollar has eased and real rates have edged lower," said Standard Chartered analyst Suki Cooper.

"There are plenty of risk events this week for gold to take its cue from, ranging from the first of three US presidential debates to unemployment and inflation data," she added.

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will face each other in their first presidential debate on Tuesday.

The dollar index eased 0.4% from a two-month peak hit in the last session against a basket of currencies.

Gains in bullion were limited as the equities climbed, mainly boosted by data over the weekend showing profits at China's industrial firms grew for the fourth straight month in August.

"Gold has found a new key technical support level at $1,850. You are probably seeing gold investors starting to feel a little more positive about scaling back into gold," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

"The fact that gold is down over a couple of hundred dollars from its record highs, investors see this as a good opportunity to get in."

Despite the gains on Monday, gold is down about 10% from a record peak of $2,072.50 hit in August. The metal posted its biggest weekly decline since March 13 on Friday.

Silver jumped 2.9% to $23.52 per ounce, platinum climbed 4% to $880.93 and palladium rose 1.7% to $2,253.00.