• Gold rose more than 1 percent to touch a one-month peak on Monday as the dollar plunged and equities fell after U.S. President Donald Trump suffered a setback on healthcare reform, raising doubts about his ability to steer the economic agenda.
• Spot gold rose 1.1 percent to $1,258 per ounce by 0704 GMT after hitting $1,259.14, its highest since Feb. 27.
• Trump's inability to deliver on a major election campaign promise marked a big defeat for a Republican president whose own party controls Congress, and raised doubts whether he would be able to push through tax reforms and mega-spending packages.
• "Looks like some people are not happy with Trump's failure over his promises and we see that currently there is a very bearish mood about the U.S. dollar," said Jiang Shu, chief analyst at Shandong Gold Group.
• The dollar slid to a 4-1/2-month low against a basket of currencies on Monday, dropping to its worst since Nov. 11, 2016.
• "With Trump's 100 days of action rapidly becoming 100 days of inaction, and ahead of French elections, gold should remain bid on any meaningful dips going forward," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
• Gold could however struggle in the short-term as major resistance in the shape of the 200-day moving average at 1,260.50 looms and the market is looking overbought, Halley added.
· Jim Wyckoff, senior technical analyst with Kitco, also said higher. “Bulls still have technical momentum,” he added.
· Sean Lusk, director of commercial hedging Walsh Trading, looks for gold gains amid some of the uncertainty facing markets, including congressional consideration of a U.S. health-care law. A key for the metal, he added, will be whether stocks resume their ascent. He looks for the Federal Reserve to hold off on further rate hikes until inflation picks up more.
“I don’t see too many reasons to be short (bearish) right now, and funds are still net long.” Lusk said.
• Bullion has rallied nearly $60 since its March 15 low following a less-hawkish policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
• Spot silver rose 0.7 percent to $17.87 an ounce after hitting a near 3-week high of $17.916, while platinum rose 1.3 percent to $973.50.
Reference: Reuters,Kitco
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