Gold slips as firmer dollar, recovery hopes dent appeal

Gold prices slipped on Monday as a stronger US dollar and hopes for a swift global economic recovery dented demand for safe-haven bullion.

Spot gold was down 0.4% at $1,725.50 per ounce by 1201 GMT. US gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,724.50.

"Gold is suffering a little bit on back of a firmer greenback and slightly stronger equity market. We are also seeing some end-of-the-month profit-taking," said CMC Markets UK's chief market analyst, Michael Hewson.

"As we head into the end of the month and quarter, gold is not going to move that much even though US yields are slightly softer," Hewson said, adding he sees gold range-bound between $1,680 and $1,760 per ounce.

The dollar index held firm near four-month highs against its rivals. Gold's safe-haven demand was also hurt as investors' appetite for riskier assets grew.

Market participants are now waiting for US President Joe Biden's infrastructure spending package on Wednesday, which is speculated to be in the $3 trillion to $4 trillion range.

Some investors view gold as a hedge against higher inflation that could follow stimulus measures, but a recent spike is US Treasury yields has weighed on the non-yielding commodity.

"We see virtually no scope for noticeably higher prices until mid-year, though gold should be able to make significant gains in the second half of the year," Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note.

"Gold is currently lacking the support of financial investors, as buying interest is low."

Meanwhile, palladium dropped as much as 4.4% to $2,557.44 per ounce to a one-week low in the session.

Russia's Nornickel Nickel, the top producer of palladium, on Monday said it had stopped water flowing into its two major mines in the Siberian Arctic and both were on track to fully resume production in the coming months.

Platinum was down 0.5% at $1,179 per ounce and silver fell 0.9% to $24.81.