By Sweta Killa
Zacks
After some smooth trading in the first half of the year, gold has been stuck in a relatively tight range of around $1,300/oz lately. Though strengthening U.S. economic activity and a strong dollar are weighing on the performance of the yellow metal, renewed geopolitical concerns are reinforcing its safe haven appeal across the board.
This is especially true as tensions escalate in Ukraine with increasing Russian military action on the border, aggravating relationship between Russia and the western world on harsher sanctions. The list of woes go on with the Argentina default, a bloody Gaza strip, Iraq violence, Chinese slowdown and a struggling European economy yet again.
Given that these concerns will likely continue at least in the near term, the bullion is expected to climb higher in the coming days. As gold miners trade as a leveraged play on underlying precious metals, they tend to experience more gains than their bullion cousins and are expected to emerge as the real winners.