Gold firms in narrow range as dollar backs off further from two-decade high

By Swati Verma

(Reuters) - Gold prices edged up in a range-bound trade on Tuesday a slide in U.S. dollar helped bullion recover slightly from last session's 3-1/2 month lows, but the sentiment remained negative.

Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,829.39 per ounce by 1021 GMT, trading in a narrow $10 range. U.S. gold futures gained 0.8% to $1,828.

"Gold is behaving less like an arrow and more like a feather. It's drifting a little this way, and a little that way on the winds that drive markets," independent analyst Ross Norman said.

The dollar is off this morning and the U.S. Treasury yields below 3% have given a bit of an uplift to gold, Norman said, adding that "it's an encouraging move but doesn't confirm a shift in the sentiment." [US/]

Gold prices dipped to as low as $1,786.60 an ounce on Monday pressured by a sturdy dollar, but bullion has since recovered as the greenback backed off from two-decade highs. [USD/]

Reflecting investor sentiment in gold, holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, extended their decline and are at their lowest level since early March. [GOL/ETF]

Bullion has come under pressure from advances in the dollar and as Treasury yields climbed on hopes of faster U.S. rate hikes, discouraging investing in gold, which does not bear any interest. [US/]

In other metals, spot silver rose 0.8% to $21.77 per ounce, moving further away from its weakest level since July 2020 hit on Friday.

"Silver is likely also to remain under a cloud," StoneX analyst Rhona O'Connell said in a note, adding that silver can be vulnerable to very sharp moves, especially when there is a short-covering rally involved.

Platinum rose 0.5% to $950.33 and palladium gained 0.2% to $2,029.73.

 

(Reporting by Swati Verma and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans)