By Adam Claringbull
Investing.com - Gold rose on Monday morning Asia trading after falling over the weekend. The falling U.S. dollar and retreating U.S. and European markets gave the precious metal an assist, with positive Asian markets doing little to flatten the precious metal’s rise.
Gold futures were up 0.45% to $1,956.75 by 12:24 AM ET (5:24 AM GMT).
U.S. tech stocks continued to fall, led once again by NASDAQ, combining with a drop in the dollar to lift gold to $1,959.70 over the weekend. However, volatility over the period was relatively sluggish. The euro remained strong against the U.S. dollar after the European Central Bank latest policy announcement on Thursday. Despite Asian markets showing positivity in morning trade, gold is continuing its gentle rise. A general sense of positivity is being felt in the marketplace after AstroZeneca announced the resumption of trials for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) also announced the likelihood of presenting late-stage data for its own potential vaccine by late October.
Investors are also looking to the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting, due to take place on Monday.
On the more reinforcing for gold prices, Brexit woes contributed to uncertainty and Libya strongman Khalifa Haftar announced a cessation of the Libyan oil blockade, lending further weight to oversupply issues currently dogging oil prices, with Brent crude staying below $40 a barrel.
Global COVID-19 cases are expected to pass 29 million today and global economic recovery still distant.
Gold, a safe-haven popular during times of social and economic uncertainty, has seen substantial price increases since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with prices topping out above $2,072 in August.