ProShares Ultra Gold

UGL

Market cap $658M

For the last few years, China's buying patterns have been an excellent investment signal on gold

Is gold losing its luster? The price of the yellow metal has dropped from well over $5,000 earlier this year to $4,000 today.

The precious metal can still hedge against major risks as the Iran conflict drags on.

Gold breaks above its descending trendline as central bank buying offsets Fed uncertainty. See the latest outlook for XAUUSD and XAGUSD.

Gold edged higher in Asian trade. Physical demand for the metal, particularly in China, and central bank buying are underpinning the gold market, ANZ said.

Spot gold and silver prices are modestly higher in late-afternoon U.S. trading Monday, as short covering helped metals stabilize after last week's selloff, while higher Treasury yields, a firmer U.S. dollar and elevated crude oil prices capped the rebound.

Gold is massively oversold by every meaningful metric and is likely to set a cyclical bottom before September, while currency debasement is the fundamental driver that will push gold to its next all-time high, according to Paul Wong, managing partner and market strategist at Sprott Inc.In a recent interview, Wong told Kitco News that gold tends to find support when prices fall to 90% of the 200-day moving average – and we've well overshot that at this point – but there are other reasons to expect a rebound by late summer.

Interest rates are still the key driver for precious metals prices even as the conflict between the United States and Iran escalates further, with gold and silver facing continued downside risk, according to Rhona O'Connell, Head of Market Analysis for EMEA & Asia at StoneX.

Stronger dollar put additional pressure on gold markets in today's trading session.

Gold is caught between Iran war demand and rising rate pressure as higher oil, firm yields and a stronger dollar cap the metal's upside.