Gold prices increased during Asian trading on Monday, remaining close to record highs as expectations of a contentious presidential election and an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting drove strong demand for safe-haven assets.
The rise in gold was further supported by a weakened dollar, following last week’s unexpectedly low nonfarm payrolls data, which bolstered the case for potential interest rate cuts by the Fed.
However, gold has been recovering from a recent dip attributed to profit-taking at the end of October.
Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,741.31 per ounce, while December gold futures stabilized at $2,750.40 per ounce by 23:56 ET (04:56 GMT).
Trump and Harris in a Tight Race as Election Nears Recent polls indicate that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are nearly tied ahead of the election set for this Tuesday, with particular attention on seven battleground states likely to determine the outcome. Polls suggest Harris has strong support among female voters, while Trump appeals mostly to young white men.
Gold Gains from Dollar Weakness Ahead of Fed Meeting In addition to pre-election demand for safe-haven assets, gold benefited from a decline in the dollar, which fell from three-month highs after the disappointing payroll data last week. This report indicated minimal growth in the U.S. job market for October, with downward revisions for the previous two months suggesting a slowdown in the labor sector.
Such developments are likely to encourage the Fed to consider cutting interest rates, with a 25 basis point reduction expected later this week, though future rate-cut plans remain uncertain.
Gold gains from lower interest rates, as they decrease the opportunity cost of investing in non-yielding assets.
In other precious metals, platinum futures increased by 0.4% to $1,006.75 an ounce, while silver futures rose by 0.3% to $32.773 an ounce. Both metals experienced a significant wave of profit-taking last week, similar to gold.
Among industrial metals, benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange climbed 0.9% to $9,637.50 per ton, while December copper futures rose 0.7% to $4.4032.
This week, attention is focused on China’s National People’s Congress, where the government is anticipated to announce plans for increased fiscal spending. As the world’s largest copper importer, China is facing several years of sluggish economic growth.
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