Gold steadies as weaker Asian stocks offset stronger dollar, bond yields

Tue Jan 12 2021

Gold prices steadied on Tuesday as Asian stocks traded lower, dragged by political unrest in Washington and rising global COVID-19 cases, outweighing a firmer dollar and U.S. Treasury yields.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,845.19 per ounce by 0037 GMT, after touching its lowest since Dec. 2 in the previous session. U.S. gold futures eased 0.3% to $1,845.90.

In Asia trading, Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.48%, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.91% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures lost 0.54%.

Benchmark Treasury yields held firm at 10-month highs as investors adjusted for higher government spending under the Joe Biden administration, helping the dollar rebound and making gold expensive.

Higher bond yields increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-interest yielding gold.

Investors also kept an eye on the U.S. House of Representatives, where Democrats plan to impeach President Donald Trump after drawing up charges accusing him of inciting insurrection ahead of last week's siege of the Capitol.

More than 90.37 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally.

The United States lost more than 22,000 lives to COVID-19 last week, setting a record for the second week in a row, while nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Monday morning.

Money markets have ramped up bets on U.S. interest rates rising in 2023, sending a shudder through global equities which may soon have to brace for the day the Federal Reserve starts scaling back aid to the economy.

Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust fell 0.03% to 1,181.71 tonnes on Monday.

Silver gained 0.5% to $25.03 an ounce. Platinum rose 2% to $1,052.38, while palladium climbed 0.3% to $2,380.25.

Source: Reuters