The prices of gold went down as the dollar is gradually making some gains and as bond yields rose to multi-year peaks which spurred some buyers to cashing the gains they have made following its sixth weekly rise.
For this month so far, gold has gained more than 3 percent. It also reached its highest since August 2016 at $1,366.07 per ounce in the previous week thanks to the strong December finish.
The metal’s recent rises has been mostly due to the slump of the dollar index to its lowest in three years. But on Monday, it made a slight recovery after six straight weeks of losses.
Spot gold lost 0.53 percent and was around $1,342.63 per ounce.
U.S. gold futures that were due for delivery in February went down by 0.79 percent per ounce and were at $1,341.40.
The prices of gold is very receptive of the rising U.S. rates which raises the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion as well as increasing the value of the dollar. Demand for gold was sluggish in the Chinese market due to the stronger dollar according to a note from MKS.
In other precious metals, silver went down by $17.19 per ounce or 1.15 percent. In the previous week it gained 2.3 percent.
Platinum dropped by 0.19 percent at $1,007.60, following its 0.3 percent drop in the previous week. Palladium went down by 0.56 percent and was at $1,085.74 per ounce.