Metals Stocks: Gold futures inch near psychologically important $1,800 price

Gold futures on Monday headed higher as the dollar softened and as evidence of a rapid spread in coronavirus cases supported bullion buying to start the week.

“Lingering risks across the global risk markets and sliding sovereign yields continue pushing capital into gold,” wrote Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, in a Monday research note.

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 500,00 and infections topped 10 million over the weekend, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar warned on Sunday during NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “the window is closing” for the U.S. to take action to curb the virus, as he predicted rising deaths and hospitalizations in the next couple of weeks.

Against the backdrop, August gold GCQ20, +0.18% rose $6.80, or 0.4%, at $1,787.10 an ounce, after gold saw an advance of 1.6%, its third weekly rise in a row. Early last week, gold touched its highest level since 2012 as infections of COVID-19 accelerated.

The dollar was off 0.3% at 97.163 early Monday, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.15%. A softer dollar can make assets priced in the currency, like gold, more attractive to buyers using alternative monetary units.

The front-month July silver SIN20, -0.63% added 7 cents, or 0.4%, at $18.120 an ounce, while September silver SIU20, -0.76% which is the most-active contract, rose 6 cents, or nearly 0.3%, to $18.230.

Silver futures tallied a climb of nearly 1.1% on Friday, based on the most-active contracts, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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