Gold Futures Settle Slightly Higher

Gold futures settled higher on Tuesday, moving up for the first time in three sessions, as demand for the safe-haven asset increased amid concerns about growth due to surging coronavirus cases.

A drop in long-term bond yields – benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hovered near five-month lows – too supported gold’s rise. However, a slightly stronger dollar capped the yellow metal’s uptick.

The dollar index climbed to 93.17 before paring some gains. It was last seen at 93.00, up 0.12% from Monday’s close.

Gold futures for August ended up by $2.20 or about 0.1% at $1,811.40 an ounce.

Silver futures for September closed lower by $0.149 at $24.995 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $4.2630 per pound, up $0.0615 from the previous close.

On the COVID-19 front, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention placed the U.K. on its highest risk category, ordering U.S. citizens to “avoid travel to the United Kingdom”. Brazil, South Africa and the Netherlands were also included on Level 4 category due to a spike in infections.

In Australia, South Australia moved to a lockdown, joining Sydney and Victoria after identifying new cases of the Delta strain.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed new residential construction in the U.S. showed a substantial increase in the month of June.

The report said housing starts spiked by 6.3% to an annual rate of 1.643 million in June after jumping by 2.1% to a revised rate of 1.546 million in May. Economists had expected housing starts to increase by 1.1% to a rate of 1.590 million from the 1.572 million originally reported for the previous month.

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