Gold Climbs Toward Recent Highs as Hard-Money Demand Holds

Gold rose on Monday by about 45 dollars, or 1.1 percent, to roughly 4,186 dollars an ounce, extending a run that has kept the metal near the upper end of its range for the year. The move came as the dollar's path stayed uncertain and as investors weighed the Iran roadmap against renewed concern over central-bank policy.

The metal's value was illustrated in Hong Kong, where police arrested four more suspects over a knifepoint robbery of gold bars worth about 7 million Hong Kong dollars at the city's airport, with the stolen bullion still missing. Physical gold at these prices has become a target precisely because each bar carries far more value than a year ago.

The hard-money complex is not moving in unison. Bitcoin traded around 63,000 dollars, well below its October peak, and a widely followed analyst who called that peak now sees the asset forming a bearish chart pattern that could carry it toward 54,000 dollars. The split between firm gold and softer bitcoin suggests investors are favoring the older monetary metal over the digital one for now.