Gold slips ahead of Ukraine-Russia peace talks

Gold prices fell on Monday as hopes of

progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks to be held this week

dented safe-haven demand for bullion, while a stronger U.S.

dollar and higher yields further weighed on the metal.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,947.90 per ounce, as of

0151 GMT. U.S. gold futures were down 0.2% at $1,949.70.

* With peace talks between Russia and Ukraine set to take

place in Turkey this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelenskiy insisted on the territorial integrity of his country

after earlier suggesting he was ready for a compromise.

* The Russian central bank will restart buying gold from

banks and will pay a fixed price of 5,000 roubles ($52) per

gram between March 28 and June 30, the bank said on Friday.

* U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday, with the benchmark

10-year note surging to nearly three-year highs as markets

grapple with high inflation and a hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve.

* Higher yields and interest rates increase the opportunity

cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

* The dollar index hit a more than one-week high, making

gold more expensive for other currency holders.

* Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed

exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.5% to 1,093.18

tonnes on Friday, their highest since late-February 2021.

* High bullion prices led some people to sell old jewelry

in India last week amid dim physical gold demand, while a

resurgence in COVID-19 cases in China hit purchases of the metal

in the country.

* China’s financial hub of Shanghai launched a planned

two-stage lockdown of the city of 26 million people on Monday to

contain surging local COVID-19 cases.

* Spot silver fell 1.2% to $25.21 per ounce and

platinum shed 0.8% to $993.59, while palladium

added 1.3% to $2,366.12.

(Reporting by Asha Sistla in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu

Sahu)