Gold rally gains momentum ahead of US inflation data, Jackson Hole event

Gold prices rose to their highest in more than three months on Monday, as technical buyers piled into a rally driven by the U.S. Treasury's recent buyback announcement and a weaker dollar ahead of this week's inflation data and the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Spot gold XAU= gained 0.8% to $4,639.49 per ounce by 2:25 p.m. EDT (1825 GMT), after hitting $4,680.70 — its highest since May 14 — earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures GCv1 for December delivery settled 0.4% higher at $4,697.80 per ounce.

"The fundamentals and technicals are kind of lining up bullish for the gold market here to start the trading week," said Jim Wyckoff, a market analyst at American Gold Exchange. He also said bond yields "have stabilized, even dipped a little bit today", supporting the metal.

With prices trending higher, Wyckoff said the path of least resistance for gold would "continue to be sideways to higher" in the coming weeks, barring a technical reversal signal.

Gold broke above its 200-day moving average last week, further strengthening its upward momentum.