Investing.com -
Investing.com - Gold prices gained in early Asia on Monday, supported by events in Iraq that have raised prospects for wider Middle East tensions.
Sources quoted in news reports at the weekend said that Iran and the United States will discuss the sectarian tensions this week as part of broader talks about Tehran's nuclear program.
Last week, gold ended Friday's session at the highest level in almost three-weeks, as concerns over escalating violence in Iraq boosted demand for safe-haven assets.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for August delivery traded at $1,278.80 a troy ounce, up 0.37%, after hitting session high of $1,278.10 a troy ounce, the most since May 27, before coming off the highs to settle at $1,274.10, up 0.01%, or 10 cents on Friday.
Gold traders continued to monitor events in Iraq as militants linked to al-Qaeda threatened to take Baghdad after capturing key cities elsewhere in the country earlier in the week.
Concerns over the ongoing Sunni insurgency in Iraq remain and are affecting the broad investment markets because of the potential to disrupt oil flow and spark wider clashes in the region, particularly among the Shite and Sunni branches of Islam. Iran is Iraq's neighbor, though the two countries fought a bitter war through much of the 1990s.
Gold is often considered a haven during times of geopolitical turmoil.
Elsewhere, in the U.S., data released Friday showed that that U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated in June.
The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for June came in at 81.2, down from 81.9 in May, missing expectations for an uptick to 83.0.
In the week ahead, investors will be focusing on the outcome of Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy meeting.
Silver for July delivery traded at $19.743 a troy ounce, up 0.45%, after settling last week at $19.65 a troy ounce, the most since May 22. The July silver futures contract climbed 3.35%, or 66.0 cents, on the week.
Copper for July delivery traded at $3.033 a pound, up 0.16%, after settling last week at $3.029 a pound by close of trade.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.