Gold nears two-month high as Russia-Ukraine tensions simmer

Gold prices advanced towards last week’s two-month high on Monday as U.S. bond yields continued to fall and investors looked to invest in the safe-haven metal over concerns about tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Spot gold XAU= was 0.5% higher at $1,841.50 per ounce by 1013 GMT, holding close to last week’s high of $1,847.42 an ounce. U.S. gold futures GCv1 rose an equal amount to $1,840.70, Reuters reported.

Investors are looking towards the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting starting on Tuesday. The Fed is expected tighten monetary policy at a much faster pace than thought a month ago to tame persistently high inflation.

“I don’t expect (Fed) to have a significant impact on what gold prices are doing at this moment because the markets are more concerned about what’s going on in Eastern Europe,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Spot silver XAG= fell 0.4% to $24.12 an ounce and platinum XPT= was steady at $1,029.53.