SMM / PRNewswire-Asianet /-COMEX futures climbed slightly on Monday as a surge in the number of new cases led to a surge in safe-haven demand, although strong stock markets and positive US service sector data limited gold's gains.

Comex August gold futures rose 3.50 U.S. dollars, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $1793.5 an ounce at 13:30 New York time.

EdwardMoya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said: "investors doubt whether this recovery will remain resilient because we are all looking forward to a rapid recovery." However, the recovery may take longer, which should support the gold price. "

In the first four days of July alone, 15 states in the United States reported a record number of new cases in a single day, while the number of cases in countries such as India, Australia and Mexico continued to soar.

The US stock market shrugged off a surge in the number of new cases, rising on the back of unexpected growth in the US service sector and hopes of a Chinese-led recovery from the economic downturn triggered by the epidemic.

Us service sector activity rebounded sharply in June, almost returning to pre-epidemic levels. The data show that the final PMI value of the Markit service industry in the United States in June was 47.9, and the market expected it to be 47.

"the biggest risk is that if the data continue to perform well, it could make calls for further stimulus difficult to achieve," Moya added.

Gold, a non-interest-bearing asset, has risen 17.5 per cent so far this year, driven by stimulus measures and interest rate cuts by central banks.

"the normalisation of inflation expectations may still be a strong driver for gold to rise to $1800," the TD Securities (TDSecurities) said in a report.

For other precious metals, September silver futures rose 26 cents to settle at $18.582 an ounce.

Platinum futures rose $6.10 in October to settle at $837.70 an ounce.

September palladium futures rose $24. 7 to settle at $1952.30 an ounce.

In addition, COMEX9 copper for monthly delivery closed up 2.60 cents at $2.7745 a pound.

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