Gold strengthens to a two-week-high

Apple is one of the largest Western firms to be hurt by the epidemic. It said manufacturing facilities in China that produce iPhone and other electronics have begun to reopen, but they are ramping up more slowly than expected. That pushed US stocks futures as well as Asian shares lower.

The death toll from the virus in mainland China rose by 98, even as its spread slowed with the number of new cases falling below 2,000 as of Monday. However, global experts warned it was too early to say the outbreak is being contained.

Meanwhile, China continued its effort to ease the drag to the businesses, with its central bank cutting the interest rate on its medium-term lending on Monday.

The dollar, also considered a safe-haven asset, rose to an over four-month high against rivals.

“Dollar and gold are negatively correlated, but at this moment even though dollar is moving higher, gold is moving higher and that means the demand for safety is outweighing the currency impact on gold,” CMC’s Yan said.

Elsewhere, palladium rose 0.4% to $2,532.80 an ounce after hitting a near one-month peak of $2,538.25 earlier in the session.

Silver advanced 0.6% to $17.87, while platinum was up 0.4% at $972.40.

Reuters