By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Monday morning in Asia, with investors turning to the safe-haven asset as the dollar weakened. China and Japan also released data conveying mixed signals about their economic recovery from COVID-19.
Gold futures were up 0.20% at $1978.85 by 12:43 AM ET (5:43 AM GMT), and the dollar inched down on Monday.
China released data earlier in the day showing a dip in the manufacturing Purchasers’ Managers Index (PMI) to 51 in August, missing the forecasted 51.2 prepared by Investing.com and lower than July’s PMI of 51.1. But the same data showed that August’s non-manufacturing PMI rose to 55.2, beating July’s reading of 54.2.
In Japan, industrial production increased by 8% month-on-month in July, against a forecasted growth of 5.8% and June’s 1.9% growth. But retail sales saw a 2.8% decrease year-on-year in the same month, but missing the forecasted decline of 1.7% but smaller than June’s 3.9% fall.
Meanwhile, the number of global COVID-19 cases continues its continuous increase. There are over 25.1 million cases globally as of August 31, according to Johns Hopkins University data.