By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Gold held steady at just under the $1,800 bar on Monday as a rally in stocks limited the safe-haven crowd from adding to bids on the yellow metal.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery on Comex settled up $3.50, or 0.2%, at $1,793.50. Last week, August gold hit $1,803.95, the highest for a benchmark contract on Comex since the all-time peak of $1,911.60 set in September 2011.
Spot gold was up $10.33, or 0.6%, at $1,786.32 by 3:52 PM ET (19:52 GMT). The real-time indicator of bullion prices scaled $1,789.48 on last week, a peak since the record high of $1,920.85 achieved by bullion since September 2011.
Gold steadied as Wall Street’s key stock indexes rose as much as 2% each in an equities rally that carried over from Asia and Europe.
“In precious metals, nearly every trading session in the past few months has a sense of déjà vu, as traders aggressively sell the yellow metal in response to risk-on, only to see gold grind higher shortly after,” TD Securities said in a note.
“This trading behavior is entirely consistent with our market thesis — gold is the midst of a regime shift, transitioning from trading as a safe-haven asset to an inflation-hedge product,” it said. “Long-term inflation expectations are rising in sync with risk-on behavior, while rates-vol remains deeply constrained amid uber-supportive policy, fueling a process that weighs on real yields.”