Gold was up on Friday morning in Asia, as investors turned to the asset following a record number of daily COVID-19 cases in the United States. The U.S. had reported over 60,000 cases on Thursday, and Texas, Florida and California ranked tops as the states with the highest number of cases.
Gold futures were up by 0.15% at $1,806.50 by 12:29 AM ET (5:29 AM GMT), ending the week above the $1,800 mark. With the increase of COVID-19 cases across the world, investors are increasingly turning to the safe-haven asset for succor. The numbers hit over 12.2 million cases and 550,000 deaths globally as of July 10, according to Johns Hopkins University and this further dampened investors’ confidence of an economic rebound. Lockdowns that have previously been eased are now recommencing.
More so, the possibility of further stimulus measures from central banks across the world has also aided the increase in the price of Gold.
Ryan McKay, the commodity strategist at TD Securities, explained to CNBC “This stimulus (measures) are not going away very soon. If we see the global supply chain, it has been massively disrupted and that disruption adds to inflation as well.”
(READ MORE: Gold nears 8-year high, more economic stimulus coming)
With $2 trillion worth of current stimulus measures due to expire at the end of July, investors will also be looking for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next move.
Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at AxiCorp in a note to Nairametrics explained that the safe-haven asset, having surpassed the USD1,800/oz mark as propelled investors to pull back on buying gold as they have commenced taking profits – this is especially as Covid-19 cases continue to surge.
“After a significant psychological breach, a correction is not that unlikely and would be a healthy development. Many gold traders would not be surprised to see a sharp and shallow sell-off of 5-10%. A reduction in leveraged tactical longs could drive this. The ‘I’m long, but would like to get longer’ mantra has never been echoed so loud in the gold market in the 20 years,” he said.
