2020.07.0619:04:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Near 1-week High

Gold prices edged higher and front-month futures contract settled at near 1-week high on Monday as the dollar lost ground against most major currencies after China's economy rebounded amid growing signs of recovery from the virus-inflicted damage.

The dollar index slid to 96.57 by mid morning, and later recovered some lost ground. Still, at 96.74, it was down by about 0.45% from previous close about half-an-hour ago.

Gold futures for August ended up $3.50 or about 0.2% at $1,793.50 an ounce, the highest settlement after its finish above the $1,800 an ounce mark last Tuesday.

Silver futures for September moved up $0.260 or 1.4% to $18.582 an ounce, while Copper futures for September closed up nearly $0.0260 or nearly 1% at $2.7745 per pound.

A report from the Institute for Supply Management showed a substantial turnaround in U.S. service sector activity in the month of June.

The ISM said its non-manufacturing index spiked to 57.1 in June from 45.4 in May, with a reading above 50 indicting an increase in service sector activity. Economists had expected the index to climb to 50.1. The sharp increase by the non-manufacturing index reflected the largest single-month percentage-point increase since its debut in 1997.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped as much as 5.71% today, marking the biggest advance since 2015 amid positive commentary on the market from state media, with the Securities Times saying that fostering a "healthy" bull market after the pandemic is now more important to the economy than ever.

The economy is recovering while its capital markets are attracting money, setting the scene for a healthy bull market, the official China Securities Journal said in an editorial.