LONDON: Gold slipped on Monday as the dollar rose, but prices still held near one-month highs hit last week as political and economic uncertainty in the United States dominated sentiment.

Spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at $1,292.1 an ounce at 1241 GMT off Friday’s peak of $1,297, its strongest since Oct 16. US gold futures were down 0.3pc to $1,292.20 an ounce.

“For gold, there are headwinds in the guise of US interest rate rises, which means higher front-end bond yield curves and an opportunity cost for holding gold,” said Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar. Higher rates typically mean sales of short-dated bonds, pushing up yields and make them cheaper for other investors, offering higher returns than gold which earns nothing and costs money to store and insure.

Silver was down 0.7pc at $17.19 an ounce and platinum fell 0.8pc to $942.65. Palladium gained 0.2pc to $995.72 an ounce. Traders said palladium could come under pressure from news that Norilsk Nickel is planning to boost purchases of palladium for its fund from Russian central bank reserves to help ease shortages in the market. An executive at Norilsk, the world’s largest palladium producer, told Reuters that purchases in 2017 would rise to as much as 600,000 ounces. This compares with about five tonnes (160,764 ounces) last year.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2017