Gold rises as dollar moves down

Gold went up on Monday in Asia, reaching a two-month high as a weakening dollar gave it a boost.

Gold futures rose 0.18% to $1,820.10 by 10:36 PM ET (3:36 AM GMT). The yellow metal’s futures hovered above the $1,800-mark after climbing to their highest level since September 7 earlier in the session. The dollar, typically moving inversely to gold, moved down on Monday.

Investors mulled over Friday’s U.S. job report, which showed a higher-than-expected 531,000-increase for non-farm payrolls. The country’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.6% in October.

In the Asia Pacific, Sunday’s Chinese trade data showed a 27.1% year-on-year growth in exports in October. Imports went up 20.6% year on year, and the trade balance was at $84.54 billion.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan sees a need for ultra-easy monetary policy as the world’s third-largest economy’s inflation rose only modestly, and wage growth stayed weak.

In India, physical gold demand spiked during the previous week’s festival season.

In other precious metals, silver and platinum gained 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, while palladium edged up 0.5%.