 "Gold prices slump 1.7% on rising US Treasury yields while platinum retreats")
By K. Sathya Narayanan
Gold prices fell as much as 1.7% on Tuesday to their lowest in more than a week on stronger U.S. Treasury yields while platinum eased in choppy trading after a rally that took it to a 6-1/2 year high.
Spot gold fell 1.1% to $1,798.46 an ounce by 11:52 a.m. EST (1652 GMT), having touched its lowest since Feb. 4.
U.S. gold futures fell 1.1% to $1,804.00.
"Gold is shifting away from being an inflation hedge asset, as has been the case for most of 2020, into a safe-haven asset once again," said TD Securities commodity strategist Daniel Ghali, pointing to rising Treasury yields.
Bullion is considered a hedge against inflation expected from massive economic stimulus that has also pushed U.S. 10-year Treasury yields higher, increasing the opportunity cost of non-yielding gold.
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Also weighing on gold, U.S. stock indexes hit all-time highs on optimism surrounding a $1.9 trillion U.S. coronavirus relief package.
Meanwhile, platinum fell 1.9% to $1,277.81 an ounce after touching its highest since September 2014.
TD Securities' Ghali said the drop was attributable to profit-taking after a rally driven by speculation over the potential for platinum demand to rise as a result of greener technologies.
The metal, which is used in automobile catalytic converters to limit exhaust emissions, has rallied about 20% this year on hopes that a recovery in the car market and a push for cleaner energy would spur demand.
"While the upswing in the platinum price was fundamentally justified at first, given its previous undervaluation and the expectation of a renewed supply deficit, we now see signs of speculative excess," Commerzbank analysts said in a note.
On the technical front, "the 14-day relative strength index (of platinum) is now in overbought territory, which should sound alarm bells", they added.
Spot silver fell 1.5% to $27.18 an ounce while palladium rose 0.1% to $2,390.36 after peaking at a one-month high of $2,424.26.
(Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman and Bernadette Baum)
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