Gold price opens lower due to the rebound of shares that damaged the metal’s attractiveness

Gold prices fell Monday as higher bond yields and a rally in equities dented the metal’s appeal as a safe-haven, pushing it away from a six-week high it touched earlier in the session.

At 10:16 GMT, spot gold was down 0.1% to $ 1,826.92 an ounce, after hitting its highest since Nov. 22 at $ 1,831.62. Gold futures in the United States fell nearly 0.1% to $ 1,827.40.

“The small decline in gold prices is likely driven by risk sentiment, as measured by rising equity markets.”said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Staunovo expects rising U.S. interest rates and declining inflation in the country over the course of 2022 to weigh on gold prices and forecasts a value of $ 1,650 an ounce by year-end.

Bullion fell despite the dollar index hovering near the month-long lows it touched on Friday.

Quantitative Commodity Research analyst Peter Fertig highlighted rising bond yields in Europe and said that holidays in some parts of Europe produced low trading volumes, thus exaggerating price movements.

Gold prices ended 2021 down 3.6%, the biggest annual decline since 2015, as economies began to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

Despite the increase in coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations for the omicron variant are comparatively low, leading many governments to not implement lockdowns.

Among other precious metals, silver was little changed at $ 23.27 an ounce, platinum was up 1.76% at $ 979.44 and palladium was up 0.8% at $ 1,906.77.