Gold Up, Near Three

© Reuters

By Gina Lee

– Gold was up on Monday morning in Asia, after hitting a near-three-month high during the previous session. Concerns about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine continue, which kept investors’ risk appetite down.

Gold futures gained 0.63% to $1,853.65 by 11:31 PM ET (4:31 AM GMT), with the yellow metal hitting its highest level since Nov. 19 at $1,865.15 during the previous session. This was also the biggest daily gain since mid-October 2021.

U.S. concerns that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent sent Asia Pacific shares on a mostly downward trend and oil to seven-year peaks. The news also gave bonds a boost, while belting the euro.

Russia could imminently create a pretext to invade its neighbor, the U.S. warned on Sunday. However, Russia has denied the allegations and accused the West of "hysteria", even as it continues to build up troops near its border with Ukraine.

The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, inched down on Monday, while the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note also edged higher.

Meanwhile, data released on Friday showed that the Michigan consumer expectations index was at 57.4 in February. The Michigan consumer sentiment index was at 61.7, the lowest level in more than a decade, as expectations that inflation will continue to increase in the near term continue to increase. However, these expectations will likely not derail spending considering excess savings and a strong labor market recovery.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will also release the minutes from its last meeting later in the week.

In other precious metals, silver rose 0.7% and platinum was up 0.8%, while palladium jumped 3.7%.

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