02:00 PM EDT, 08/12/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates prices.)

Gold moved higher midafternoon on Monday as treasury yields gave up early gains and narrowed ahead of key U.S. economic data coming this week.

Gold for December delivery was last seen up US$30.60 to US$2,504,00 per ounce.

The price of the precious metal is being supported by expectations the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates from a 23-year high at its Sept. 18 meeting, lowering the carrying cost of owning gold. However the outlook for the Fed's action is likely to be affected by economic data coming this week.

The July Producer Price Index will be out on Tuesday morning. The consensus analyst estimate is for the index to be unchanged from June and 0.2% higher than July of last year, according to MarketWatch. That report is followed on Wednesday by the July Consumer Price Index, which is expected to show prices rising at a 3% annualized pace, unchanged from the prior month.

The dollar was steady, with the ICE dollar index last seen up 0.01 points to 103.15.

Treasury yields narrowed, with the two-year note last seen paying 4.023%, down 4.0 basis points, while the yield on the 10-year note was down 4.3 basis points to 3.903%.