By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Monday morning in Asia. However, lower U.S. Treasury yields in addition to concerns over the rising number of COVID-19 cases globally and its impact on the global economic recovery capped losses for the yellow metal.
Gold futures inched down 0.08% to $1,813.55 by 12 AM ET (4 AM GMT). The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, inched up on Monday while the benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell to a near two-week low at 1.2640%.
Global shares were also on a downward trend as concerns over rising inflation and the increasing number of COVID-19 cases continue to bite. The number of global COVID-19 cases topped 190,000 as of Jul. 19, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Some countries, such as Australia and South Korea, have re-imposed restrictive measures to curb the spread of their most recent outbreaks involving the virus’ Delta variant. Japan has also reported COVID-19 cases in the Olympic village just days before the Tokyo Olympics are due to open on Jul. 23.
Elsewhere in Asia, gold was sold at a discount in India during the previous week for the first time in almost a month as rising prices deterred buyers. Higher prices also deterred buyers in other major Asian hubs.
SPDR Gold Trust’s holdings fell 0.6% to 1,028.55 tons on Friday, the lowest since May 14. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data also showed that investors raised their net long positions in COMEX gold in the week ended Jul. 13.
In other precious metals, silver edged up 0.2%, palladium climbed 0.6% to $2,645.98, and platinum was steady at $1,103.15.