By Myra P. Saefong , MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures climbed by as much as $6 an ounce on Globex by Monday afternoon in Asia, regaining momentum after briefly posting modest declines earlier in the electronic trading session.
China's decision to ease the yuan's de-facto peg against the U.S. dollar helped support broad gains in commodities markets. That outweighed earlier pressure from traders wary of higher prices following record closing levels over the past two trading sessions.
Gold for August delivery tapped a high of $1,264.50 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. It was last at $1,264, up $5.70, after closing at record prices over the past two trading sessions. The contract finished Friday at $1,258.30.
Over the weekend, China's central bank announced plans to loosen the yuan's de-facto peg to the greenback. It also ruled out a one-time revaluation and said any strengthening of its currency would be gradual. See story on China's currency move.
The "Chinese news supports gold on the idea U.S. dollar could continue to weaken," said Darin Newsom, a senior analyst at Telvent DTN.
"However, regardless of the yuan, the trend of the dollar has been down while gold continues to move to new highs on increasing open interest," he said. "This would indicate new buying interest continues to come into the market despite record high prices."
Looking ahead, metals players this week will be "on the lookout for comments ahead of next weekend's [Group of 20] summit as well as this weeks' line-up of economic data, which includes EU consumer confidence, manufacturing & service PMI and revised U.S. GDP," James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, said in a note to clients Monday.
