Gold slips as firmer dollar, recovery hopes dent appeal

Spot gold was down 0.4% at $1,725.26 per ounce by 0829 GMT. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.6% to $1,722.

“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 U.S. yield is 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, making gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Gold’s safe-haven demand was also hurt as investors’ appetite for riskier assets grew. European stocks edged closer to a record high on Monday on optimism over a global economic recovery.

Market participants are now waiting for U.S. 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 U.S. Treasury yields has weighed on the non-yielding commodity.

“While gold is still good for inflation, the problem is it’s not good right now because yields are going higher in concert with inflation,” said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at financial services firm Axi.

“We need those yields to stop going higher, and then you know once the inflation takes over then gold goes up.”

Silver fell 1.1% to $24.78 per ounce, palladium dropped 3.3% to $2,586.18 and platinum shed 1.4% to $1,168.16.