Gold up on continued reaction to Yellen comments

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Monday as traders digested comments from the U.S. central bank' s governor on Friday.

The most active gold contract for December delivery rose 1.2 U.S. dollars, or 0.09 percent, to settle at 1,327.1 dollars per ounce.

The precious metal was given support as traders digested hawkish remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen. On Friday, she said she would be open a rate hike as early as next month, traders continue to believe that the Fed may raise rates from 0.50 to 0.75 during the December Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

According to the CME Group' s Fedwatch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to 0.75 is at 24 percent at the September 2016 meeting, 30 percent at the November 2016 meeting, and 55 percent at the December meeting.

Investors are waiting for the release of several major items of data that will likely indicate the Fed' s thinking during their September FOMC meeting in a couple weeks. The weekly jobless claims report is due on Thursday and the big jobs report is due on Friday, along with international trade.

The precious metal was prevented from rising further as the U.S. Dollar Index rose by 0.06 percent to 95.54 as of 1745 GMT. The index is a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies. Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.

Silver for September delivery rose 11.7 cents, or 0.63 percent, to close at 18.768 dollars per ounce. Platinum for October delivery added 3.4 dollars, or 0.32 percent, to close at 1,081.10 dollars per ounce. Endit