Gold edges higher as havens rally on growing Evergrande fears

Gold edges higher as havens rally on growing Evergrande fears

Gold advanced as fears of a spillover from debt woes of Asian real estate developer China Evergrande Group stoked demand for havens, outweighing concerns that the Federal Reserve’s reduction in stimulus could come soon. US equities fell more than 2 per cent as investor angst deepened over China’s real-estate sector and the Fed tapering. The dollar advanced to the highest level in nearly a month while Treasury yields slipped, boosting demand for non-interest bearing bullion. “Gold is actually acting as gold. It’s getting flight-to-safety buying due to concerns how bad we’re actually getting with news over the weekend out of China,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. “If there’s a complete fallout, it’s going to reverberate over the markets.” Evergrande will have interest payments on its two notes due Thursday, a key test of whether the Chinese real estate giant will continue meeting obligations to bondholders even as it falls behind on payments to banks, suppliers and holders of onshore investment products. Investors will also be looking for clues on how willing Xi Jinping’s government is to intervene and help the world’s most indebted property developer to prevent financial contagion from destabilizing the world’s second-largest economy. Meanwhile,