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Gold eyes best day since early March
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Silver soars over 8% to highest since mid-August
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Platinum, palladium jump
Oct 3 (Reuters) - Gold prices jumped more than 2% on Monday boosted by a dip in the U.S. dollar and bond yields, as recent lows enticed investors and also sparked a rally in silver in potentially its best day since late-2008.
Spot gold rose 2.3% to $1,698.48 per ounce by 3:39 p.m. ET (1939 GMT), which could be its biggest daily rise since March 8. U.S. gold futures settled 1.8% higher at $1,702.
Silver surged 8.8% to $20.67 per ounce, its highest since mid-August.
"For the whole of September everything took it on the chin," and was over-sold, said Michael Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global Investors. Now people are looking for opportunities, especially non long-term term holders of these metals, who buy dips and sell rallies, he added.
The dollar eased, helping demand for the greenback-priced bullion among overseas buyers. Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell to an over one-week low, supporting demand for zero-yield gold.
A retreat in the safe-haven currency has afforded gold some respite, with bullion prices staging a mini-recovery since sliding to their lowest since April 2020 last week.
Gold has found support as it has recently declined less than the overall market, Matousek said, adding there were some market participants now thinking the U.S. Federal Reserve might ease interest rate hikes, which would support gold.
Supporting safe-haven demand for metals, U.S. manufacturing activity grew at its slowest pace in nearly 2-1/2 years in September, likely as rising interest rates to tame inflation cooled demand for goods.
"You're going to have to see a close back above $1,700 to get the (gold) bulls revived a little bit, and even that, really doesn't change the technical posture a whole lot... the bears are still in pretty firm technical control," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals.
Palladium rose 2.9% to $2,219.83. Platinum jumped nearly 5% to $901.52 per ounce. (Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrea Ricci, Sandra Maler and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
