Gold gains in Europe

AMSTERDAM/LONDON: Gold clawed back some losses on Monday after posting its biggest weekly percentage fall since March 2020, as a pause in the dollar’s rally helped restore the metal’s allure.

Spot gold was up 1.1% at $1,782.25 per ounce by 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), having risen much as 1.3% earlier in the session. US gold futures gained 0.8% to $1,782.90.

“People are using the correction to buy gold, at these price levels, there is value to hold positions in gold, especially for the long run,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago

Gold prices fell 6%, or $113, last week as the US Federal Reserve signaled it would soon start tapering its asset purchase program and could start raising interest rates in 2023.

But the dollar index retreated from 2-1/2-month highs, prompting investors to turn to gold, which fell for six straight sessions before Monday’s bounce.

US 10-year Treasury yields also rose after hitting four-month lows, raising the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing bullion.

Streible predicted gold would drift above $1,800 an ounce, citing an “overbought” dollar, the Fed’s continued bond purchases and interest rates that won’t rise anytime soon.

Market participants will listen now to congressional speeches from a number of Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, who is due to speak on Tuesday.

In other precious metals, platinum rose 1.1% to $1,045.14 per ounce, while palladium climbed 3.4% to $2,550.09 after tumbling over 11% last week.

Global palladium markets have been in deficit this year due to rebounding economic growth, tighter emissions standards that force automakers to use more of the metal per vehicle and supply glitches at Russia’s Nornickel.

Analysts at Heraeus, a trading firm, said, however, that supply chain disruptions in automobiles could ease the tightness in palladium markets. Elsewhere, silver gained 0.7% to $25.96 per ounce, after posting its biggest weekly loss in nearly nine months, last week.