Gold prices dip on firm U.S. bond yields, dollar

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Gold prices edged down on Monday as

elevated U.S. Treasury yields and a firm dollar pressured demand

for greenback-priced bullion.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,880.56 per ounce, as of

0049 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.2% to

$1,879.30.

* Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit their highest

since November 2018, pressuring prices of zero-yield gold.

* The dollar hovered close to a 20-year high against its

rivals, making greenback-priced bullion less attractive for

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other currency holders.

* U.S. job growth increased more than expected in April as

manufacturers boosted hiring, underscoring the economy’s strong

fundamentals despite a decline in output in the first quarter.

* Two of the Federal Reserve’s most outspoken policy hawks

on Friday pushed back on the view that the U.S. central bank

missed the boat on the fight against high inflation, citing a

tightening of financial conditions that began well before the

Fed began raising interest rates in March.

* While gold is seen as a safe store of value during times

of political and economic crises, it is highly sensitive to

rising short-term U.S. interest rates and bond yields, which

raise the opportunity cost of holding bullion.

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* As many as 60 people are feared to have been killed when a

bomb struck a village school in eastern Ukraine, the regional

governor said on Sunday, while Russian forces continued shelling

the last holdout of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined

southeastern port of Mariupol.

* Asian markets got off to a shaky start on Monday as U.S.

stock futures took an early skid on rate worries, while a

tightening lockdown in Shanghai stoked concerns about global

economic growth and possible recession.

* Spot silver slipped 0.4% to $22.24 per ounce,

platinum fell 1.2% to $951.69, and palladium

dropped 0.2% to $2,042.80.

(Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru; editing by

Uttaresh.V)