COMEX gold futures gave up 1 per cent on Monday, falling for a fifth straight day as a stronger dollar and rising investor risk appetite outweighed support from a fall in US Treasury yields.
At 13:30 on March 1st in New York (02:30 on March 2nd in Beijing), April gold futures, the most actively traded, closed down US $5.80 0.3% to settle at US $1723 an ounce.
The most actively traded COMEX5 monthly silver futures rose 23.8 cents, or 0.90%, to settle at $26.678 an ounce.
Platinum futures rose $6, or 0.51%, to settle at $1191.3 an ounce in April.
June palladium futures rose $35.50, or 1.53%, to settle at $2349 an ounce.
Among COMEX's other metals, the most actively traded May copper contract closed up 2.05 cents, or 0.5%, at $4.113 a pound.
David Meger, head of metals trading at High Ridge Futures, said: "the vision of economic recovery is that the dollar has rebounded from its recent lows and the stock market has performed well." In this environment, demand for gold has declined. "
"but on the other hand, we see that the government has injected another $1.9 trillion of stimulus into the economy, and we may see an inflationary environment in which gold will move very well."
The dollar index jumped to a three-week high, while optimism about the stimulus package and good news about novel coronavirus's vaccination boosted risk sentiment in broader financial markets.
Earlier Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved President Biden's $1.9 trillion novel coronavirus epidemic relief bill and submitted it to the Senate for consideration.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell from an one-year high, giving gold some respite.
Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at financial services firm Axi, said that from a technical point of view, the psychological barrier of $1700 is very important, and the range of $1760-$1765 is an important obstacle to the further rise of gold prices.
