July 20 (Reuters) - Gold held firm above the psychological
level of $1,800 per ounce on Monday, as a weaker dollar and
concerns over surging COVID-19 cases around the globe kept the
safe-haven metal underpinned.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,808.53 per ounce by 0030
GMT. U.S. gold futures GCv1 were almost unchanged at
$1,809.50.
* More than 14.38 million people have been reported to be
infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 601,961 have
died, according to a Reuters tally. [nL5N2EQ0MU
* Coronavirus cases continue to rise in the United States.
With 3.7 million total cases, the country has almost as many
infections as the next three hardest-hit countries combined -
Brazil, India and Russia. * The dollar index .DXY held close to a more than
one-month low hit last week, making gold less expensive for
holders of other currencies. USD/
* Britain will shelve its extradition treaty with Hong Kong
on Monday in response to the national security legislation for
Hong Kong that the Chinese parliament passed last month, The
Times reported. * EU leaders stood at an impasse on Sunday after three days
of haggling over a plan to revive economies throttled by the
COVID-19 pandemic. * Speculators reduced their bullish positions in COMEX gold
and increased them in silver contracts in the week to July 14,
the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on
Friday. CFTC/
* On the physical side, bullion remained out of favour last
week among consumers in top hubs China and India in the grip of
the coronavirus, while investors in Singapore and Japan bought
gold and silver to safely park their wealth. GOL/AS
* Palladium XPD= gained 0.6% to $2,033.35 per ounce,
while platinum XPT= fell 0.2% to $836.62 and silver XAG=
edged 0.1% higher to $19.33.