Gold Rises Above $1800 Over Surging COVID Cases, Weak Dollar

Taarek Refaat

Gold prices rose on Monday, stabilizing above the main level of $ 1,800 per ounce, as a weak dollar and concerns about the rise of COVID-19 cases around the world preserved the precious metal.

Spot gold rose 0.3% to $ 1803.80 an ounce, while gold futures rose 0.4% to $ 1,809.10.

"COVID-19 will not fade, nor we believe that the US Federal Reserve will change the course of interest rates any time soon, which would support the precious metal prices," said Stephen Innis, chief market strategist at AxiCorp Company.

Innis added that the medium term outlook for the economic recovery still looks uncertain, and this still provides a good space for the yellow metal to float higher.

Meantime, more than 12.83 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide and 565,626 have been confirmed dead.

Coronavirus infection in the United States continued to rise over the weekend, with Florida reporting a record high of more than 15,000 new cases within 24 hours yesterday.

Also, the dollar index fell 0.2% against its counterparts, making gold less expensive for other currency holders, in addition to US President Donald Trump statements on Friday that didn't consider negotiating a "second stage" trade agreement with China.

In addition, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the United States said on Friday that the investor speculation index increased bullish positions in the COMEX gold and silver contracts last week.

Other metals also jumped during today's trading, where palladium rose 0.9% to $ 1,987.77 an ounce, platinum rose 2.4% to $ 834.05 and silver rose 1% to $ 18.86.