US dollar, gold rise after Maduro seizure as investors seek safe havens

Safe-haven assets, including gold and the US dollar, gained further traction after the United States’ capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, while the Chinese yuan remained relatively resilient despite the stronger dollar.\nThe spot gold price rose to more than US$4,420 per ounce early on Monday morning, before edging down to US$4,402 per ounce by midday, according to financial data provider Wind.\nMeanwhile, the US dollar index rose to 98.76 from 98.41 at the start of trading on Monday.\nThe gains in safe-haven assets followed US President Donald Trump’s move to seize Maduro and his wife in large-scale American strikes on Caracas over the weekend.\nGold prices had already risen to record highs in 2025, gaining more than 60 per cent amid heightened geopolitical tensions, large-scale purchases by central banks, widespread expectations of further US Federal Reserve rate cuts, and waning confidence in the dollar as concerns over US debt sustainability deepened.\nThe Chinese yuan remained resilient despite pressure from a stronger US currency on Monday morning, with the offshore yuan trading at 6.978 per US dollar as of midday – remaining above the psychologically critical mark of 7 per US dollar.\n\n\nThe People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s midpoint, or daily fixing rate, at 7.023 against the US dollar on Monday, stronger than the previous rate of 7.0288 set on the last day of 2025, though weaker than the offshore level.\nThe Chinese currency has strengthened in recent months, fuelling forecasts that it could rise to as high as 6.8 per US dollar in 2026.\nGoldman Sachs analysts said in a note on Sunday that recent policy communications suggested China’s central bank “may have developed a preference” for a stronger yuan, while “remaining keen to avoid too fast an appreciation”.\nLooking ahead, China’s solid export growth, the yuan’s significant undervaluation and a softer US dollar should support a gradual appreciation path for the Chinese currency, the note added.\nGoldman Sachs continues to project the yuan to strengthen to 6.95, 6.9 and 6.85 per US dollar over the next three, six and 12 months, respectively, according to the report.\n