By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures climbed as much as $10 an ounce on Globex Monday afternoon in Asian trading as weakness in the U.S. dollar and a drop in gold prices of more than 4% in the last three sessions helped lure investors back to the precious metals market.
Gold for February delivery climbed to a high of $1,099.80 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex before easing back slightly to $1,098.60, up $8.90.
The contract ended last week with a loss, down 1.2% on Friday to finish at $1,089.70 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
February gold had tallied a loss of 4.4% in the last three trading sessions to touch a one-month low of $1,081.90 on Friday.
"Commodities as a whole could start to come under pressure," said Darin Newsom, a senior analyst at Telvent DTN, adding that technical signals show the CRB index and DJIA turning bearish and the U.S. dollar turning bullish.
He also said it's "going to be tough pushing gold through [the] previous resistance-turned-turned-support [level] near $1,030 if global economy comes into question again."
Concerns that China's moves to curb lending will dampen growth had reduced the precious metal's appeal as a hedge against weak currencies and inflation. See Friday's metals column.
And "this week, we think there are still downside risks, particularly for gold, as we enter the seasonally weak period of the year," analysts at Credit Suisse wrote in a note to clients Monday.
Shares of metals-mining shares in Asia traded mainly lower Monday, with Shandong Gold-Mining Co. Ltd. (CN:600547 70.55, -0.33, -0.47%) losing 0.8% in Shanghai and Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. (HK:2899 6.95, -0.08, -1.14%) (ZIJMF 0.88, -0.02, -2.22%) down 1.4% in Hong Kong. Shares of Lihir Gold Ltd. (AU:LGL 3.05, -0.01, -0.33%) (LIHRF 2.73, -0.08, -2.95%) shed 0.7% while Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM 33.31, 0.00, 0.00%) (NCMGF 30.20, -3.55, -10.52%) climbed 0.8%.
