LONDON: Gold prices slipped on Monday as higher bond yields and rallying equities weighed on the metal’s safe-haven appeal, pushing it away from a six-week peak hit earlier in the session.
Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,826.92 an ounce by 1016 GMT, having touched its highest since Nov. 22 at $1,831.62. US gold futures edged down nearly 0.1% to $1,827.40.
“The small setback in gold prices is likely driven by positive risk sentiment as gauged by rising equity markets,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
Staunovo expects rising US interest rates and declining US inflation over the course of 2022 to weigh on gold prices and forecasts a price of $1,650/oz at the end of the year.
Bullion slid despite the US dollar index holding close to one-month lows touched on Friday.
Quantitative Commodity Research analyst Peter Fertig noted rising bond yields in Europe and said that public holidays in parts of Europe made for low trading volumes, thereby exaggerating price movements.
Gold prices ended 2021 down 3.6% for the biggest annual decline since 2015, with economies starting to recover from the coronavirus crisis.
Despite surging coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalisations from the Omicron variant are comparatively low, leading many governments to stop short of lockdowns.
Looking ahead, the inflation figures could prompt central banks to raise interest rates to higher levels than the market has priced in, which could be negative for gold, Fertig said.
In other metals, spot silver was little changed at $23.27 an ounce, platinum rose 1.76% to $979.44 and palladium was up 0.8% to $1,906.77.
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