Gold prices rose on Monday after falling earlier in the session, supported by opportunistic buying, while markets focused on developments in the US-China trade war and a slew of economic data.
Spot gold rose 0.9% to $3,349.60 an ounce shortly before the close, after falling to $3,268 an ounce earlier in the session. US gold futures also rose 1.5% to settle at $3,347.70 an ounce.
"We are starting to see the first signs of sell-off fatigue," said Daniel Ghali, a commodities strategist at TD Securities, adding that downside risks to gold prices are now "very limited."
Ghali explained that "Western investors, particularly self-dealing traders and macro funds, were not sufficiently benefiting from the recent wave of gold's rise. As a result, there has been limited selling activity and prices are tipped to rise to reflect this situation."
Gold, a traditional safe haven during times of political and financial turmoil, hit a record high of $3,500.05 per ounce last week, driven by rising global uncertainty.
Despite US President Donald Trump's assertion that progress has been made in trade talks with China, Beijing has denied that negotiations are underway, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has not endorsed Trump's statements about the imminent conclusion of a tariff agreement with China.
In this context, Fouad Razakzadeh, an analyst at City Index and Forex.com, said, "Unless we see a clear pattern of lower highs and lower lows, with solid trade agreements rather than repetitive political statements from the Trump administration, gold cannot be ruled out for new record highs."
A recent Reuters poll indicated that the majority of economists expect a high risk of the global economy slipping into recession this year.
Several important data releases are expected this week, including the US job openings report on Tuesday, personal consumption expenditures data on Wednesday, and the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. Investors are awaiting these indicators to gauge the impact of recent tariffs on the US economy.
As for other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.1% to $33.03 per ounce, while platinum rose 1.5% to $986.05, and palladium fell 0.4% to $947.27.