By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures pushed higher Monday, receiving a boost on worries about Ukraine after a weekend referendum on the secession of regions in the eastern part of the country threatened to increase tensions between the West and Russia.
Gold for June delivery GCM4 +0.92% rose $14.10, or 1.1%, to $1,301.70 an ounce. July silver SIN4 +2.37% rose 50 cents, or 2.6%, to $19.63 an ounce.
Pro-Russian separatists declared victory in Sunday’s recession referendums, contributing to rising tensions as Moscow appeared to challenge assertions by Western powers and Kiev that the vote was illegitimate.
“This matter remains a potential geopolitical powder keg and it appears the fuse is now lit. Gold has and will likely continue to see safe-haven buying amid the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict,” said Jim Wyckoff of Kitco, while also noting that global stock and financial markets weren’t seeing much impact from the developments.
Stocks rallied around the globe, with China posting strong gains after the introduction of a blueprint for an overhaul of capital-market regulations. U.S. stocks opened solidly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.56% setting an all-time high.
Strategists at Barclays said gold was likely to remain stuck in a range, with the lack of investor appetite to push gold higher evident in the reduction of exchange-traded fund gold holdings over the past month. They see gold maintaining a choppy, range-trading pattern between $1,265 and $1,330 an ounce.
