Gold prices recovered from a more than eight-month low hit in the previous trading session and jumped by 1% on Monday. The yellow metal was supported by the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill in the U.S., which weakened the dollar. The softer greenback made the bullion less expensive and more attractive to investors using rival currencies. Despite this, gold’s price performance in February was the worst since November 2016. It is due to the rising U.S. Treasury yields.

It is also worth mentioning that government bond yields in other countries, including Australia, Germany and New Zealand ended February with their highest monthly gains in years. Higher bond yields weigh on bullion’s status as an inflation hedge because it raises the opportunity cost of holding non-yield assets like gold.

Spot gold is currently trading at $1,753.17 per ounce as of 0616 GMT.

Axi’s chief global market strategist Stephen Innes noted that gold climbed up a bit because of the softer dollar and a slight reversal in yield trends. The passage of the U.S. stimulus package also supports bullion prices.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. It is the third vaccine to be authorized in the U.S. after those from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, which both require two doses. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged Americans to avail themselves whichever vaccine they are offered because all three are “highly efficacious” against COVID-19.

In physical trading, demand in India rose last week as bullion prices fell to their lowest in almost eight months. In Singapore, there is a growing interest in the yellow metal.

On the technical aspect of trading, Innes said that the psychological price level of $1,700 is very significant for gold. He added that the bullion needs to get past the $1,760-$1,765 range to have a chance to rise further.

In a related development, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reported that market speculators reduced their bullish stance in COMEX gold contracts for the week that ended on February 23. Also, the holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund in the world, went down 0.6% on Friday to hit their lowest level in nine months.