Jakarta - The price of gold on Monday (16/8) is predicted to strengthen by moving in the range of US$1,760-1,800 per troy ounce.

"The strengthening of gold prices responds to survey data on the US consumer confidence level in August, which fell to its lowest level since 2011 at 70.2," said Commodity Observer Ariston Tjendra in Jakarta.

In addition, the results data increase the expectation that the US monetary easing policy will last longer.

Also, market concerns about the spread of the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus also pushed up the price of gold as a safe asset.

In the US alone, new cases of COVID-19 have increased to around 129 thousand new cases per day.