Gold prices slipped to a one-week low on Monday as investors sought comfort in the U.S. dollar amid rising Pandemic cases.

Spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,802.26 per ounce by 1248 GMT. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.7% to $1,802.00.

Making gold more expensive for holders of other currencies, the dollar strengthened 0.3% to a more than three-month high against its rivals.

“The dollar strength is limiting gold’s upside and sort of remains one of the key headwinds,” said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus.

“There are emerging concerns about the Delta variant and its impact on global economic growth. So, primary safe-haven flows are also going into the dollar and bonds.”

Gold’s losses came despite U.S. 10-year Treasury yields dropping to their lowest since mid-February.

Independent analyst Ross Norman also said gold’s failure to convincingly breach the $1,820 level, and move higher, “had a detrimental impact.”

Sentiment in wider financial markets took a beating as investors feared a relentless surge in coronavirus cases and growing inflationary pressures.

Meanwhile, many Asian countries have been forced into taking lockdown measures as they struggle to curb the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Focus also remains on the European Central Bank, when policymakers are set for a showdown as they chart a new policy path amid growing fears of a third wave of coronavirus infections.

“(Gold) investors are also pricing in the expectation that recent spikes in inflation will force the hand of the Fed, driving a higher likelihood of earlier than previously expected rate hikes and tapering of the asset purchase program,” said Ricardo Evangelista, a senior analyst at ActivTrades.

Elsewhere, silver dropped 2% to $25.15 per ounce, platinum slipped 2.8% to $1,071.21, and palladium fell 1.9% to $2,579.20.

Sustainable investments total US$35.3 trillion, or more than a third of all assets in five of the world’s biggest markets with Canada experiencing the biggest increase over the past two years, a report from the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance on Monday showed.

Investors are increasingly driven by environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) factors that traditionally have not been captured in a company’s balance sheet, but that can influence future returns.

The GSIA, whose member bodies track growth in their region, said professionally managed assets, using a broad gauge of what it means to invest sustainably, account for 36 per cent of total assets under management.

While some assessments of industry growth focus on retail-focused mutual funds with a specific sustainability mandate, the GSIA also includes wholesale and institutional assets.

Canada and the United States saw the strongest growth over the last two years, the report said, at 48 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively.

“Designated sustainable and responsible investment retail products, including mutual funds and ETFs, have experienced a growth in popularity in Canada,” according to GSIA. “Net asset flows for Canada-domiciled sustain–able and responsible investment mutual funds and ETFs, estimated by Morningstar, were CAD5.3 billion for Q1 2021, already exceeding the CAD3.3 billion in 2020. In addition, a total of 17 sustainable and responsible investment funds launched in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 40 in 2020.

The report also includes money invested using a process that assesses the risk and return impact of issues, such as climate change, even if the strategy’s mandate does not have a formal, explicit sustainability focus, so-called ‘ESG integration’.

The biennial industry survey looked at assets in the United States, Europe, Australasia, Japan and Canada, using data from end-2019 for all regions except Japan, where the data was to end-March 2020.

Since the last report, total assets across the markets had risen 15 per cent, the report said.

Oil prices recouped some losses on Monday, but were still down after OPEC+ overcame internal divisions and agreed to boost output, which sparked concerns about a crude surplus as COVID-19 infections continue to rise in many countries.

Brent crude was down 61 cents, or 0.8%, at $72.98 a barrel by 0617 GMT, after falling to $72.35 earlier in the session. U.S. oil was down 66 cents, or 0.9%, at $71.15 a barrel, having slipped to $70.64 earlier.

OPEC+ ministers agreed on Sunday to increase oil supply from August to cool prices that earlier this month climbed to the highest in around 2-1/2 years as the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group, which includes members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia, agreed new production shares from May 2022.

“Oil prices may continue to gyrate in the coming weeks,” Goldman Sachs said after the agreement.

However, the U.S. investment bank said it remained bullish on the outlook for oil and the agreement was in line with its view that producers “should focus on maintaining a tight physical market all the while guiding for higher future capacity and disincentivising competing investments.”

It said the OPEC+ deal represented $2 “upside” to its summer forecast for Brent to reach $80 a barrel and $5 upside on its outlook for the international benchmark to average $75 a barrel next year.

To overcome internal divisions, OPEC+ agreed new production quotas for several members from May 2022, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait and Iraq.

Investors in the United States have been excited about the return since the Federal Reserve indicated last month that interest rates could rise sooner than previously thought. There are now signs that dollar bears are throwing in the towel as the US currency builds on its gains.

The data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that monitors the futures market jumped sharply this month. The net long position of speculative investors on the dollar index – which tracks the US currency against a basket of competitors – reached its highest level in more than a year with 11,257 contracts. A net long position indicates the difference between positive and negative bets.

CFTC figures also show that speculators – groups such as hedge funds that bet on currencies – are becoming more positive about the dollar’s outlook against the euro, the British pound and the yen.

While futures contracts make up only a small portion of the $ 6.6 tonne per day currency market, they provide an important and timely approach to investor sentiment.

The Economic Community of West Africa States has canvassed an increase in the Value Added Tax on luxury items including perfume, wine and other alcoholic beverages, fuelling speculations about inflation on the items.

According to ECOWAS, Nigeria remains the least VAT paying country in West Africa.

The ECOWAS Director of Domestic Tax, Tiemtore Salifou, made the submission on the sideline of a two-day regional seminar on problems of tax transition in West Africa which ended in Abuja on Friday.

He however suggested that the increase should be on products that would not impact negatively on poorer Nigerians.

While emphasising that there was no economic wisdom in Nigeria paying less VAT than Niger Republic, Salifou suggested VAT increase on items like hospitality industry, expensive perfumes and wines among other imported products.

He said, “There are some products we can increase VAT on without impacting on the lives of the normal Nigerians.

“I am talking about the hotels, perfumes, wines and certain products for the rich. I don’t think it will have any impact on the common people if government increases tax on them.”

He added that Nigeria should not put VAT on certain products that were very important to the common citizens.