The US dollar rose against most of its peers on Monday, thanks to strong safe-haven demand amid a broad sell-off in stock and commodity markets due to renewed coronavirus concerns.

World Health Organization data stated that coronavirus infections have increased in the USs, Europe and Asia due to the new Delta strain, which has renewed fears of the pandemic spreading out of control.

The US government revealed that the average infection during the past seven days until Friday was about 30,000 cases, which is higher than June's average of 8,000 cases.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.2% to 92.8 points as of 17:52 GMT, after hitting a high of 93.04 points and a low of 92.6 points.

Gold prices fell on Friday, as the US dollar rose against most of its major counterparts.

World Health Organization data stated that coronavirus infections have increased in the USs, Europe and Asia due to the new Delta strain, which has renewed fears of the pandemic spreading out of control.

The US government revealed that the average infection during the past seven days until Friday was about 30,000 cases, which is higher than June's average of 8,000 cases.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.2% to 92.8 points as of 17:54 GMT, after hitting a high of 93.04 points and a low of 92.6 points.

Gold spot prices fell 0.4% to $1,808.3 an ounce as of 17:55 GMT, after hitting a day high of $1,818 and a low of $1,795.

Oil prices fell on Monday, deepening losses for the fourth straight day, and hit a 6-week low, after OPEC-Plus agreed on an output hike starting from next August, and amid renewed oversupply concerns, especially after the US oil production accelerated.

US crude fell 2.5% to the lowest since June 10 at $69.63 a barrel, after opening at $71.43, and hit a high at $71.66, and Brent crude fell 1.8% to the lowest since June 10 at $71.48 a barrel, after opening at $72.81, and hit a low at $73.32.

The US crude lost 0.1% Friday, and Brent crude fell 0.3%, in the third straight daily loss, after the Saudi-Emirati dispute over OPEC-Plus production policy was resolved.

Oil prices lost around 3.75% last week, the second weekly loss in a row, due to renewed global supply and demand concerns.

The OPEC Plus alliance announced after an emergency meeting on Sunday to increase output by 400,000 barrels per day starting from August, and extended the expiration date of the cuts until the end of 2022 instead of April 2022.

The alliance decided to raise the production baseline from 43.8 million bpd to 45.5 million bpd starting from May 2022, and raised the UAE production baseline to 3.8 million bpd from 3.5 million bpd, with Saudi Arabia and Russia production baseline rising by 500,000 bpd each from 11 to 11.5 million bpd.

The current cuts are now nearly 6 million bpd, which was planned to end in April 2022, but will be lowered to 5.6 million bpd until the end of 2022 after the new pact, and the agreement will be reviewed monthly.

While the US output rose 300,000 barrels the past two weeks, with the total at the highest level since May 2020 at 11.4 million barrels per day.

Gold prices fell on Monday, deepening losses for the second straight day, near falling below the $1,800 mark, weighed down by rising US dollar.

Gold prices fell more than 0.5% to $1,801.75 an ounce, after opening at $1,811.49, and a high at $1,817.36.

Gold lost 0.9% on Friday, its first daily loss in 3 days, and pulled back from a 4-week high of $1,834.14 due to corrections and profit-taking.

Gold prices gained 0.2%  last week, in the fourth straight weekly gain.

The dollar index rose 0.3% today, to head for the third straight daily gain in 3 days against a majority of rivals, and hit a 3-month high at 93.03 points. 

Investors are focused on the US dollar due to growing odds of the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy soon, and amid fears of the spread of the new Covid-19 delta strain in most parts of the world.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF fell 5.82 metric tonnes on Friday, with the total at the lowest level since May 14 at 1,028.55 metric tonnes.