Gold advanced Monday as fears of a spillover from debt woes of Asian real estate developer China Evergrande Group stoked demand for havens, outweighing concerns that the Federal Reserve’s reduction in stimulus could come soon.
U.S. equities fell more than 2% as investor angst deepened over China’s real-estate sector and the Fed tapering. The dollar advanced to the highest level in nearly a month while Treasury yields slipped, boosting demand for non-interest bearing bullion.
“Gold is actually acting as gold. It’s getting flight-to-safety buying due to concerns how bad we’re actually getting with news over the weekend out of China,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. “If there’s a complete fallout, it’s going to reverberate over the markets.”