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Gold jumps 1% as Saudi attack lifts safe-haven bets

US gold futures rose 0.8 per cent to $1,511.20 per ounce.

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Gold prices jumped 1 per cent on Monday as an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities dented risk appetite, boosting demand for the safe-haven bullion, while investors awaited for clues on monetary easing from major central bank meetings due this week.

Spot gold was up 1 per cent at $1,503.52 per ounce, as of 0410 GMT. Prices had dipped 1.2 per cent  in the previous week on hopes that an end to the US-China trade tiff could be near.
US gold futures rose 0.8 per cent to $1,511.20 per ounce.
Meanwhile in Dubai, 22k can be bought at Dh169.25 and buyers can get 24k at Dh180.25.

The attacks on Saudi oil installations have lead to a rotation of interests out of stocks and into safe-havens, said OANDA analyst Jeffrey Halley.
With escalating tensions in the Middle East and hopes of more stimulus measures from major central banks, the next target for gold will be $1,530, he added.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack over the weekend on the world's biggest oil-processing facility.
However, a senior US official said that evidence indicated Tehran was behind it, and President Donald Trump said the United States was "locked and loaded" for a potential response to the attack, souring its already strained relations with Iran.
The event hurt risk sentiment in the markets, with Asian equities trading lower at 515.4, and the safe-haven yen up 0.4 per cent to 107.64 per dollar. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was 0.2 per cent lower at 98.053.

Investors also await the outcome of the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan's policy meetings on Wednesday, for signals on their future policy path.

"Accommodative monetary policy by global central banks will support bullion's appeal for 2H 2019," Phillip Futures analyst Benjamin Lu said in a note. Central banks globally are facing increasing pressure to dole out monetary support for flagging economies as the US-China trade dispute hurt trade and business sentiment. Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and weigh on the dollar.
Meanwhile, weighing further on risk sentiment was dismal data from China, which showed factory and consumer sectors slowed further in August, with industrial production growing at the weakest pace in 17-1/2 years, a sign of increasing weakness in an economy lashed by trade headwinds and soft domestic demand.
Spot gold could retest resistance at $1,524 per ounce, as it has temporarily bottomed around a support at $1,480, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Among other precious metals, silver jumped as much as 3 per cent to $18 an ounce and platinum was up 0.6 per cent to $953.78. Meanwhile, palladium rose 0.4 per cent to $1,612.50 per ounce.
Dollar falls, oil-exporter currencies rise; yen firms

The dollar fell while safe havens and currencies of oil-producing countries rallied on Monday, following an attack on Saudi Arabian refining facilities that disrupted global oil supply and heightened Middle East tensions.
The Canadian dollar rose 0.4 per cent to 1.3233 per dollar. The Norwegian krone rose 0.5% to 8.9363 per dollar. Both currencies often move together with the oil price because the countries are major oil exporters.

In India, a major importer of crude, the rupee fell almost 0.7per cent.

Against a basket of currencies the dollar edged lower to 98.162.

Beyond oil, currency markets are awaiting the outcome of central bank meetings in the US and Japan this week and economic data in Australia and New Zealand that could determine the rates outlook in the Antipodes.
Sterling fell 0.3 from a seven-week high to hit $1.2486.
Data released on Monday showed the slowdown in China's economy deepened in August, with industrial production growing at its weakest pace in 17-1/2 years and retail sales weaker than anticipated.
That added to pressure for stimulus and in offshore trade the Chinese yuan weakened 0.25% to 7.0631 per dollar.
As for the Bank of Japan's policy decision on Thursday, a third of economists polled by Reuters expect stimulus to be ramped up. But sources say it may be a close call as policymakers wait till the last minute to assess market reaction to the Fed's decision hours earlier.

Japanese markets are closed on Monday for a public holiday.

The euro was steady at $1.1073.

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