By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Monday morning in Asia, as the passage of the latest U.S. stimulus measures continued to stoke inflation fears, although the resultant bounce in Treasury yields capped gains.
Gold futures were up 0.31% at $1,725.15 by 12:09 PM ET (4:09 AM GMT), keeping above the $1,700 mark.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package into law on Friday, catapulting yields on benchmark ten-year notes upwards. Yields were at the vicinity of their highest level in more than a year over continued optimism on the continued U.S. economic recovery from COVID-19.
On the central bank front, a slew of policy decisions is due in the coming week. The Federal Reserve releases its policy decision on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England on Thursday and the Bank of Japan on Friday.
U.S. data released on Friday said that the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.5% month-on-month in February, against the 0.5% growth in forecasts prepared by Investing.com. It rose 2.8% year-on-year, against the forecast of 2.7%.
The core PPI grew 0.2% month-on-month and 2.5% year-on-year.
Other data released on Friday said that hedge funds and money managers retreated from their bullish positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Mar. 9. Data from Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Global Research said that investors turned to stocks and retreated from gold and bonds in the week up to Mar. 10.
In other precious metals, Silver rose 0.9%. and platinum rose 1%. Palladium edged down 0.1%.