PRECIOUS-Gold Maintains Near One-Week High on Virus Issues

Aug. 17 (Reuters) – Gold prices were flat on Tuesday, hovering near a peak of more than a week, with support from safe-haven demand as part of the rise in Delta variant cases offsetting the dollar pressure firmer.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was little changed at $ 1,787.90 an ounce at 1:05 a.m. GMT, after hitting its highest level since August 6 at $ 1,788.97 on Monday. US gold futures fell 0.1% to $ 1,788.40.

* The US dollar, which is also often regarded as the go-to safe haven currency, has held up well against other rivals.

* The number of new COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant has jumped about 81% in the past 14 days to 1.67 million cases in the United States, according to a Reuters tally.

* Investor attention is now drawn to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting scheduled for Wednesday for guidance on squeezing central bank stimulus.

* The markets have also watched the unrest in Afghanistan after the capture of the capital by the Taliban.

* Boston Fed Chairman Eric Rosengren said on Monday that one more month of solid job gains could meet the U.S. central bank’s demands to start cutting back on monthly asset purchases.

* Chinese factories’ output and retail sales growth slowed sharply and missed expectations in July as new COVID-19 outbreaks and flooding disrupted business operations, adding to signs that the economic recovery was on the move. breathless.

* The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on Monday announced it would end deferred precious metals trading for certain accounts amid heightened volatility in global and domestic precious metal prices.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said Monday its holdings fell 0.1% to 1,020.63 tonnes.

* Silver rose 0.3% to $ 23.89 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.1% to $ 1,023.52 and palladium was flat at $ 2,605.92.

DATA / EVENTS (GMT) 0600 Number of applicants in UK Unem Chng July 0600 ILO unemployment rate in UK June 0900 EU GDP flash estimate QQ, YY Q2 1230 Retail sales in US United MM July 1315 Industrial production in the United States MM July (Report by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; edited by Rashmi Aich)