2021.03.0818:58:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower, Hit Near 11-month Low

Gold prices drifted lower on Monday as the demand for the safe-haven asset waned after the dollar rose against most of its peers and the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury Notes stayed around 1.6%.

Market also noted the passage of a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package on the Senate. The bill now goes to the House for its vote.

The dollar index advanced to 92.42 around noon, and was up nearly 0.4% at 92.33 about half an hour past noon.

Gold futures for April ended down $20.50 or about 1.2% at $1,678.00 an ounce, the lowest settlement in about 11 months.

Silver futures closed lower by $0.018 or nearly 0.1% at $25.269 an ounce, while Copper futures settled at $4.0930 per pound, up $0.0175 or 0.4% from previous close.

A report released by the Commerce Department on Monday showed wholesale inventories in the U.S. jumped in line with economist estimates in the month of January.

The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories spiked by 1.3% in January after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6% in December.

Economists had expected wholesale inventories to surge up by 1.3% compared to the 0.3% increase originally reported for the previous month.