Gold prices slightly higher amid election uncertainty, weaker dollar

Investing.com– Gold prices were slightly higher Monday, as election uncertainty and a weaker dollar continued to support a bid in the yellow metal.  

Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,738.77 an ounce, while gold futures expiring in December steadied at $2,747.70 an ounce by 1:59 ET (19:59 GMT). 

Trump, Harris neck-and-neck as ballots loom

Recent polls showed Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were largely neck-and-neck in the upcoming election, with voting set for this Tuesday.

Particular focus is on the seven battleground states that are likely to decide the direction of the election. Recent polls showed Harris had a strong base in female supporters, while Trump was mostly favored by young white men.

Gold buoyed by dollar weakness ahead of Fed meeting

Gold also took support from recent declines in the dollar, as the greenback tumbled from three-month highs after soft payrolls data released last week.

The reading showed the U.S. job market barely grew in October, with downward revisions for the past two months pointing to a cooling in the labor sector.

The labor market data is expected to keep Fed chairman Jerome Powell leaning dovish on Thursday. 

“[W]e believe he will leave options open for either slowing or accelerating rate cuts at 2PM Thursday – a dovish message relative to the market focus,” Citi analysts Andrew Hollenhorst and Veronica Clark said in a recent note.

Among other precious metals, platinum futures fell 1.1% to $991.90 an ounce, while silver futures fell 0.3% to $32.58 an ounce. Both metals, like gold, were hit with a sharp bout of profit-taking last week.

Among industrial metals, benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.4% to $9,682.00 an ounce, while December copper futures rose 1.4% to $4.43.

Focus this week was squarely on a meeting of China’s National People’s Congress, where the government is widely expected to outline plans for more fiscal spending.

The country is the world’s biggest copper importer and is grappling with years of weak economic growth.