Investing.com - Gold prices held near the prior session’s nine-week high on Monday, as market players sought refuge amid heightened volatility in global stock markets.
Chinese stocks markets plunged again on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite Index and the CSI300 Index both closing down more than 5% despite efforts by Beijing to stabilize the market. Last week, the Shanghai Composite lost all of its 2015 gains, falling by 10% in just five days.
European stocks saw a more steady start on Monday, with Germany's DAX gaining ground as investors chose to ignore the downward trend in Asia and ongoing concerns over Chinese growth.
Elsewhere, U.S. stock futures were up between 0.4% and 0.6%, suggesting a strong open on Wall Street later in the day after stocks closed out their worst start to the year ever on Friday.
Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on $1.40, or 0.13%, to trade at $1,099.30 a troy ounce as of 09:55 GMT, or 5:55AM ET. It earlier rose to $1,108.30.
On Friday, prices jumped to $1,113.10, the most since November 4. The yellow metal gained $34.40, or 3.54%, last week, as safe-haven demand was boosted amid a global stock market rout, worries over the Chinese economy and heightened geopolitical tensions.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.23% to 98.69.
Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned following Friday’s robust U.S. jobs report for December.
The U.S. economy added 292,000 jobs last month, after increasing an upwardly revised 252,000 in November. Economists had forecast payrolls to rise by 200,000. The unemployment rate held steady at a seven-and-a-half year low of 5% in December.
The report bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates at a faster pace this year.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery inched up 5.7 cents, or 0.41%, to trade at $13.97 a troy ounce during morning hours in London.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures tumbled to the lowest level since April 2009 on Monday, as steep declines on Chinese stock markets dampened appetite for the red metal.
Market players are concerned that the plunge in the stock market could spread to other parts of the Chinese economy, triggering fears that the Asian nation's demand for the industrial metal will decline.
Last week, copper prices plunged 5.4 cents, or 5.13%, as a meltdown on China’s stock market and a rapid depreciation of the yuan rattled investor sentiment.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for nearly 45% of world consumption.