RIYADH: Gold prices eased on Monday as the dollar and Treasury yields firmed on prospects of aggressive interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. Fresh concerns over Russia’s attacks in eastern Ukraine also lent some support to the safe-haven metal.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,942.93 per ounce, as of 0140 GMT, after hitting a more than one-week high of $1,949.32 earlier in the day. US gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,949.00.
Silver flat, palladium up
Spot silver was flat at $24.75 per ounce, and platinum rose 0.7 percent to $981.41.
The auto-catalyst metal had gained 8.6 percent on Friday after newly refined Russian platinum and palladium were suspended from trading in London, denying access to the metals’ biggest trade hub.
Grains rise
US wheat, soybean, and corn futures rose in early trading on Monday, extending gains after the US government’s latest global supply and demand assessment reflected the Ukraine crisis’s impact on Black Sea shipments.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade, or CBOT, was up 1.1 percent at $10.70-1/4 a bushel, at 0110 GMT, after closing at its highest level in two weeks on Friday.
CBOT soybean climbed as much as 0.5 percent to $16.97-1/2 a bushel, its highest since March 28.
CBOT corn rose as much as 0.5 percent to $7.72 a bushel, extending gains to a third session.
Metals fall
Most base metals fell on Monday, with aluminum prices sliding to their lowest in nearly four weeks, weighed down by a stronger US dollar and demand concerns as top consumer China grapples with lockdowns and COVID-19 cases.
Benchmark aluminum on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.2 percent at $3,335, at 0509 GMT, after touching the lowest since March 17, while copper dipped 0.6 percent to $10,265 a ton.
The most-traded May aluminum contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SAFcv1 was down 2.7 percent at $3,329.31 a ton at the noon break.
Nickel dropped 3.4 percent to $32,343.62 a ton after falling to its lowest since March 23 earlier in the session.
(With inputs from Reuters)