By Seher Dareen
(Reuters) – Gold prices were little changed on Monday, hovering near a one-month low, as demand for the greenback-priced bullion was restrained by a stronger dollar and higher Treasury yields.
Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,865.26 per ounce by 12:37 p.m. ET (1737 GMT). Earlier in the session, prices slipped to $1,860, their lowest since Jan. 6.
U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,864.90.
The dollar index advanced 0.6% to an almost month-high, making gold more expensive for buyers holding other currencies. [USD/]
Benchmark Treasury yields also firmed, likely keeping investors away from bullion. [US/]
However, concerns over a slowdown remain and is likely to keep demand for gold on a firm footing this year, analysts said.
“Traders will look at gold as a safe-haven asset and buy into it,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.
Gold prices dropped more than 2% on Friday after data showed U.S. job growth accelerated sharply last month, with focus on speeches by a host of Fed officials this week, including Chairman Jerome Powell.
The Fed last week increased interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5%-4.75% after a year of larger hikes, and investors are now pricing in the policy rate peaking at 5.05% in June.
Gold benefits from low interest rates, which reduce the opportunity cost of holding the zero-yield asset.
In other metals, spot silver dropped 0.6% to $22.22 per ounce, and platinum slipped 0.2% to $971.76.
Palladium was down 1.5% to $1,598.96 per ounce, after it fell more than 4% earlier to $1,556.53, its lowest since mid-December 2021.
“Among platinum group metals, supply disruptions in South Africa due to a deepening energy crisis should help to stabilise prices in the short term,” ANZ wrote in a note.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Additional reporting Arundhati Sarkar and Bharat Govind Gautam; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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