“Gold prices are retracing once again from their highs after posting their best performance in seven weeks,” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a daily note.

Aslam said gold is likely to be supported by reports of the spread of the Delta variant of COVID, raising questions about the global economic outlook.

“Looking at the current situation, traders do not want to sell gold due to growing concerns about the Delta variant,” the analyst wrote.

August gold GCQ21, -0.44% GC00, -0.44% early Monday traded $9.90, or 0.6%, lower at $1,800.70 an ounce. On Friday, the commodity marked its third straight weekly advance and its sharpest since May 21, as choppiness in stocks, a tepid U.S. dollar and rapidly receding yields proved a bullish cocktail for bullion in a U.S. holiday-shortened week.

The dollar was up 0.2% on Monday, as gauged by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.19%, a measure of the buck against a half-dozen currencies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.30% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.13% were seen pulling back from records, however.

A stronger dollar has been one of the primary catalysts for gold. Lower yields for government bonds, with the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.342% and the 30-year Treasury bond TMUBMUSD30Y, 1.973% near lows not seen since February, also have helped to buoy gold.

Meanwhile, silver for September delivery SIU21, -0.70%   SI00, -0.70% was off 19 cents, or 0.7%, to around $26.04 an ounce, after silver finished 1% lower.