By Zhang Mengying
Investing.com – Gold was up on Monday morning in Asia as the U.S. dollar weakened ahead of a U.S. holiday.
Gold futures were up 0.34% to $1,846.80 by12:30 AM ET (4:30 AM GMT).
U.S. markets are closed on Monday for a holiday.
“It is a public holiday in the U.S. today, which means liquidity – and therefore volatility – is likely to be lower, thus making directional moves on gold difficult without a fresh catalyst,” City Index senior market analyst Matt Simpson told Reuters.
“Gold has effectively been in a choppy range since May 19 between $1,805 and $1,880. And that makes it more of a traders’ market than an investors’ market. We think traders will opt to buy dips above $1,800 and sell rallies below $1,880,” Simpson added.
Asian markets were down over concerns that tightening monetary policies might slow economic growth.
Gold wrapped up the previous week lower on a stronger dollar over interest rate hikes by major central banks. The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday an interest rate hike of 75 basis points, the biggest since 1994. The Swiss National Bank also unexpectedly hiked interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday while the Bank of England raised its interest rates to 1.25% on the same day.
In other precious metals, silver rose 0.64%. Platinum gained 0.14%, and palladium jumped 2.25%.