Gold prices scored a second-straight session of gains Monday, holding ground at a six-week high as global markets absorbed weekend terrorist attacks in London and investors awaited the outcome of the European Central Bank meeting and U.K. general election later this week.
August gold GCQ7, +0.08% rose $2.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,282.70 an ounce-the highest since April 21, according to FactSet data.
Prices, based on the most-active contracts, also settled at their best level in about six weeks on Friday, and rose roughly 1% for the week, as a reading on U.S. job growth Friday fell short of forecasts for a strong payrolls jump in May.
U.S. economic data released Monday were mixed, with a government report showing that the productivity of American companies and their employees was unchanged in the first three months of this year, instead of declining at a 0.6% annual rate.
The Institute for Supply Management said its nonmanufacturing index fell 0.6 points to 56.9% in May, while the Commerce Department reported that factory orders dipped 0.2% in April.
Economic figures can sway expectations on the pace of U.S. interest-rate hikes this year, though a June hike is still seen as a strong likelihood. Higher interest rates tend to push investors into assets that offer a yield, which gold doesn't.
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"Gold spiked higher after the soft jobs report last week and so far, is maintaining those gains this week," said Tyler Richey, co-editor of the Sevens Report.
"Gold has been trading with a very high correlation to the Treasury market lately as inflation readings remain subdued and economic data have been underwhelming," he said. "In the near term, gold will continue to trade in lockstep with longer-dated bonds, and as long as the general uptrend in the 30 year continues, so too will the 2017 gold rally."
The yield for the 30-year bond TMUBMUSD30Y, -0.33% which trades inversely to prices, headed higher Monday, but that followed the largest weekly decline in close to two months.
Haven gold gained as U.S. equities on Monday struggled to repeat the record highs for the main indexes hit late week, as investors tried to look past the London attack to potentially market-moving events later in the week.
The ECB will hold a meeting Thursday, the same day former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, is slated to testify before the Senate intelligence committee hearing on the Russian investigation linked to the U.S. election. The U.K. will also hold its general election that day, though results come out Friday. Gold tends to be supported when other, typically riskier markets, decline.
Meanwhile, July silver SIN7, -0.15% rose 5.6 cents, or 0.3%, to $17.581 an ounce. July HGN7, -0.02% ended at $2.558 a pound, down 1.7 cents, or 0.7%. July platinum PLN7, -0.25% added $4.20, or 0.4%, to $957.60 an ounce, while September palladium PAU7, -0.28% rose $7.80, or 0.9%, to $841.85 an ounce.
The SPDR Gold Trust GLD, +0.10% was up 0.1%, while the iShares Silver Trust SLV, +0.24% rose 0.2%. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF GDX, -0.09% lost 0.5%.