Singapore: Gold was holding steady near a two-month high on Monday and looked set to post its second straight quarterly gain as geopolitical tensions boosted the metal's safe-have appeal.
Fundamentals
Spot gold was flat at $1,314.93 an ounce, not too far from a two-month high of $1,325.90 hit last week. The metal has gained 2.4 per cent for the second quarter of the year, after rising nearly 7 per cent in the previous quarter, helped by violence in Ukraine and Iraq.
Iraq's army sent tanks and armoured vehicles to try to dislodge insurgents from the northern city of Tikrit on Sunday, the second day of a pushback against a Sunni militant takeover of large stretches of Iraq.
Fighting flared between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists around the eastern flashpoint city of Slaviansk on Sunday despite a truce extended until Monday night, a deadline also set by EU leaders considering new sanctions against Russia.
Hedge funds and money managers sharply increased their bullish bets in gold futures and options to their highest since March, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. Other precious metals, silver, platinum and palladium were all headed for their second straight quarterly gains.
Anglo American Plc has put some of its platinum mines in South Africa up for sale in a move by Chief Executive Mark Cutifani to dispose of underperforming assets, Britain's Sunday Times reported.
