2021.08.1618:25:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Higher

Gold futures moved higher on Monday, extending gains to a second consecutive session, despite starting the day on a weak note.

The drop in treasury yields, weak economic data out of China and a somewhat tepid U.S. Empire manufacturing survey report prompted investors to go for the safe-haven commodity. Geopolitical concerns following the collapse of the Afghanistan government contributed as well to gold's uptick.

A slightly stronger dollar limited gold's uptick. The dollar index, which rose to 92.66, was last seen hovering around 92.60, up nearly 0.1% from Friday's close.

Gold futures for December ended up by $11.60 or about 0.7% at $1,789.80 an ounce, the highest close since August 5.

Silver futures for September ended up by $0.012 at $23.791 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $4.3270 per pound, down $0.0645 from the previous close.

New York manufacturing activity saw significantly slower growth in the month of August, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.

The New York Fed said its general business conditions index plunged to 18.3 in August from 43.0 in July. While a positive reading still indicates growth, economists had expected the index to show a much more modest drop to 30.0.

China's industrial production growth slowed to 6.4% in July from 8.3% a month ago, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed Monday. Output was expected to gain 7.8%.

Retail sales grew at a slower pace of 8.5% on a yearly basis, following a 12.1% rise in June. This was also weaker than the economists' forecast of 11.5%.

Traders now await the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting for directional clues.