Investing.com - Gold prices rose in Asia on Monday as tension between the West and Russia over the Ukraine stoked risk asset buying.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery traded at $1,343.10 a troy ounce, up 1.63%, as the threat of military conflci in the Ukraine hovered over markets. Last week, April futures settled at $1,321.60 a troy ounce.
Gold also saw support after Fed Chair Janet Yellen last week acknowledged recent weakness in U.S. data, saying it indicates softness in the economy.
In testimony to the Senate banking committee in Washington, Yellen said it was hard to say how much the recent soft data was due to weather and added that the bank would be attentive to signals on whether the recovery is progressing in line with expectations.
The recent patch of soft U.S. economic data forced investors to recalibrate their assumptions about the future course of the Fed's monetary policy.
In the week ahead, investors will be anticipating Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for an indication of the strength of the recovery in the labor market and the future course of monetary policy.
Data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission released Friday showed that hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish bets in gold futures in the week ending February 25.
Elsewhere on the Comex, copper for March delivery declined 0.49% to $3.171 a pound, in part linked to weak data out of China.
In China, the CFLP China services PMI rose to 55 from 53.4 the previous month and the HSBC China manufacturing PMI reached 48.5 from 48.3 previously. Both items cover the month of February.
Manufacturing activity in China fell less-than-expected last month, official data showed on Saturday that Chinese Manufacturing PMI fell to an eight-month low of 50.2 in February from 50.5 in the preceding month. Analysts had expected Chinese Manufacturing PMI to fall to 50.1 last month.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.