Gold scales new peak at US$1,788

Gold scaled a more than seven-week peak on Monday as a softer dollar and lower U.S. Treasury yields lifted the yellow metal's appeal even as the appetite for riskier assets stood strong, Reuters reports.

Spot gold was up by 0.6 percent at US$1,788.31 per ounce by 0904 GMT, its highest since February 25.

U.S. gold futures were up 0.3 percent at US$1,788 per ounce.

"The fact that we managed to break above $1,765 and close above on Friday is likely to have attracted some renewed speculative buying from trend and momentum players," Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said.

"Most of these (players) are price-driven, so when the price tells them that there's a change in the outlook, they have to get involved," while fundamentally, gold is being driven by the continued drop in bond yields, Hansen added.