 "Gold")
By Sethuraman N R
(Reuters) - Gold scaled a more than seven-week peak on Monday as a softer dollar and lower U.S. Treasury yields lifted the yellow metal's appeal even as the appetite for riskier assets stood strong.
Spot gold was up 0.6% at $1,7883.31 per ounce by 0904 GMT, its highest since Feb. 25.
U.S. gold futures were up 0.3% at $1,788 per ounce.
"The fact that we managed to break above $1,765 and close above on Friday is likely to have attracted some renewed speculative buying from trend and momentum players," Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said.
"Most of these (players) are price-driven, so when the price tells them that there's a change in the outlook, they have to get involved," while fundamentally, gold is being driven by the continued drop in bond yields, Hansen added.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields edged lower towards multi-week lows touched last week. Lower bond yields reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-interest bearing gold. [US/]
The dollar index fell to a more than six-week low against its rivals, making gold less expensive for other currency holders.
The dollar weakened and the Treasury yields remained subdued after the U.S. Federal Reserve reiterated its view that any spike in inflation was likely to be temporary.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has reiterated its stance to keep monetary policy accommodative.
Gold's gains accompanied a jump in world shares as markets were generally upbeat about the prospects for a global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elsewhere, silver rose 0.4% to $26.05 per ounce after hitting a near one-month high in the last session. Palladium rose 1.7% to $2,827.20, while platinum gained 1% to $1,213.50.
Speculators cut their bullish positions in COMEX gold and raised them in silver contracts in the week to April 13, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.
(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Uttaresh.V, Shailesh Kuber and Mark Heinrich)
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