MTS Help Center

Gold continued its rally Monday, breaching above the key $1,300 level and hitting a 10-month high.

And one analyst says three factors are underpinning the gold market right now.

"I would say it's the low-yield environment, the trend of the dollar and strong growth in emerging markets [driving gold]," Jens Nordvid, founder of New York-based Exante Data, told CNBC last week.

"Those three things together are some of the things that have underpinned the gold rally, and they're still here."

And indeed, the weaker U.S. dollar was “still here” Monday.

The greenback kicked off the trading week on a weaker tone, which often trades inversely to the yellow metal. While gold pushed through $1,300 an ounce Monday, the U.S. dollar index moved to multi-month lows, last at 92.19. December Comex gold last traded at $1,315.80, up 1.38% on the day.

As Kitco’s senior market analyst Jim pointed out, it was really the U.S. dollar’s weakness that drove gold’s move higher Monday.

“A slumping U.S. dollar index that hit a 15-month low today worked in favor of the precious metals market bulls,” he said.

But, the other two factors Nordvid highlighted are also currently working in gold’s favor. Low yields lowers the opportunity cost of holding gold, while growth in emerging markets helps drive demand for the metal.

So, the metal seems to have a solid backdrop right now. But there’s more, Nordvid added.

Uncertainty in Washington is driving safe-haven gold as well.

"There's the government shutdown risk and then there's the debt ceiling risk," he said.

"That's definitely something that's holding the market back, and it's something that could potentially give a boost to gold while dragging the dollar down."

Reference: Kitco