Gold prices advanced in Asian trade on Monday, remaining close to last week’s record highs as the prospect of more U.S. interest rate cuts after the Federal Reserve’s recent move buoyed the outlook for bullion.

Markets remained biased towards bullion before several more key U.S. economic readings this week, including the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.

But gold was kept off record highs by some resilience in the dollar, which recovered from its weakest levels in over 3-½ years. 

Spot gold rose 0.3% to $3,697.70 an ounce, while gold futures rose 0.7% to $3,733.10/oz by 01:33 ET (05:33 GMT). Spot prices hit a peak of $3,707.70/oz last week. 

Gold keeps record highs close amid rate cut cheer 

Gold’s recent record highs came as the Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points last week in a widely telegraphed move.

The central bank cited increasing risks to the labor market as a motivator for the cut, and signaled that it will continue to lower rates in the coming months on more signs of labor weakness. 

But the Fed still maintained its stance on potential inflationary risks, especially from higher trade tariffs. Markets, however, remained confident that interest rates will fall by at least 50 bps more this year, CME Fedwatch showed.

Lower rates bode well for non-yielding assets such as gold, given that they lower the opportunity cost of investing in the sector. Broader metal prices also advanced after the Fed’s cut. 

Spot platinum rose 0.8% to $1,419.90/oz on Monday, while spot silver rose 1.3% to $43.6495/oz. 

Among industrial metals, benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.1% to $10,001.10 a ton, while COMEX copper futures rose 0.1% to $4.6315 a pound. 

US inflation, Fedspeak on tap this week 

Focus this week is on a slew of key U.S. economic signals, which are likely to factor into near-term expectations for interest rate cuts.

Several Fed officials are set to speak this week, most notably Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday.

PCE price index data– the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge– is due on Friday, and is expected to show inflation remaining sticky in August. Core PCE inflation is also expected to remain above the Fed’s 2% annual target. 

Other economic prints are also due this week, including preliminary purchasing managers index data for September, as well as a final reading on second-quarter gross domestic product growth.