Gold prices edged down on Monday as elevated U.S. Treasury yields and a firm dollar pressured demand for greenback-priced bullion.Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit their highest since November 2018, pressuring prices of zero-yield gold. The dollar hovered close to a 20-year high against its rivals, making greenback-priced bullion less attractive for other currency holders.U.S. job growth increased more than expected in April as manufacturers boosted hiring, underscoring the economy’s strong fundamentals despite a decline in output in the first quarterTwo of the Federal Reserve’s most outspoken policy hawks on Friday pushedback on the view that the U.S. central bank missed the boat on the fight against high inflation, citing a tightening of financial conditions that began well before the Fed began raising interest rates in March.While gold is seen as a safe store of value during times of political and economic crises, it is highly sensitive to rising short-term U.S. interest rates and bond yields, which raise the opportunity cost of holding bullion.As many as 60 people are feared to have been killed when a bomb struck a village school in eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said on Sunday, while Russian forces continued shelling the last holdout of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined southeastern port of Mariupol.Asian markets got off to a shaky start on Monday as U.S. stock futures took an early skid on rate worries, while a tightening lockdown in Shanghai stoked concerns about global economic growth and possible recession.
