By Adam Claringbull
Investing.com - Gold fell on Friday morning in Asia after reaching a nine-day high overnight. The continuing U.S. stock selloff and fall in the dollar boosted prices, but Asian markets were mixed and pared back the precious metal’s gains.
Gold futures were down 0.82% to $1,948.10 by 12:06 AM ET (5:06 AM GMT).
U.S. tech stocks continued their second week of selloffs on Thursday, combining with a drop in the dollar to give gold prices an overnight boost to $1,970.85. However, morning trading in Asia dragged the precious metal back down to under the $1,950 mark. The dollar fell due to further increased gains in the euro after the European Central Bank latest policy announcement and a stalemate in the U.S. Congress over pandemic relief funding, lending weight to gold’s rise.
Oil fell in morning trade, with Brent oil futures losing ground to fall below $40.00 on reports of a rising U.S. crude inventory and continuing lack of global demand. In Europe, the euro rose sharply after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s announcement of the latest policy. However, the U.K.’s continued intransigence on Brexit pulled the pound even further down, bringing it to levels not seen since 1985, barring the 2016 anomaly.
Global COVID-19 cases continue to rise, leaving hopes of a faster economic recovery still intangible. There are over 28 million COVID-19 cases globally as of September 11, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Gold, a safe-haven popular during times of social and economic uncertainty, has seen substantial price increases since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with prices topping out above $2,072 in August.