Gold slides as dollar gains towards 20-year high

Bengaluru — Gold dropped on Monday as an elevated dollar pressured demand for greenback-priced bullion, with rising US Treasury yields further weighing on prices.

Spot gold was down 0.4% at $1,874.89 per ounce by 4.52am, while US gold futures also slipped 0.4% to $1,874.80.

The dollar firmed near recent 20-year highs against its rivals, making greenback-priced bullion less attractive for other currency holders.

“A decisive break higher through 104.00 by the dollar index should be enough for gold to retest support at $1,850,” and then $1,835, said Oanda senior analyst Jeffrey Halley, adding persistent strength in the greenback this week would cause gold to drift back towards $1,800.

Some unwinding of weekend risk-hedging positioning has also perhaps pressured gold, Halley said.

Benchmark 10-year US Treasury yields hit their highest since November 2018 on Monday, dragging on prices of zero-yield gold.

Two of the US Federal Reserve’s most outspoken policy hawks on Friday pushed back on the view that the US central bank missed the boat on the fight against high inflation, citing a tightening of financial conditions that began well before the Fed began raising interest rates in March.

While gold is seen as a safe store of value during times of political and economic crises, it is highly sensitive to rising short-term US interest rates and bond yields, which raise the opportunity cost of holding bullion.

Spot silver slipped 0.5% to $22.23 per ounce, platinum fell 1.6% to $948.00, and palladium dropped 0.4% to $2,038.58.

Demand concerns dragged palladium down more than 8% on Friday to its lowest level since January.

Reuters