Gold and silver futures are avoiding the broad market selloff on Tuesday as investors seek shelter in the traditional safe-haven assets. The leading stock indexes are deep in the red during the first session of the holiday-shortened trading week. Although precious metals recorded steep losses last week, gold and silver are looking to stage a comeback, but a rising US dollar could place a ceiling on their ascent.

December gold futures rose $8.90, or 0.46%, to $1,943.20 per ounce at 16:55 GMT on Tuesday on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal posted a 2% weekly loss last week, paring its year-to-date rally to below 28%.

Silver, the sister commodity to gold, is also climbing midday. October silver futures picked up $0.218, or 0.82%, to $26.93 per ounce. The white metal plunged more than 5% last week, but it is still up more than 50% so far this year.

The precious metals kicked off the trading session lower, but they have since wiped out those intraday losses and are in positive territory. Investors are ostensibly fleeing for cover as the rest of the financial markets extend their losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed nearly 400 points, the S&P 500 plunged 1.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed close to 300 points.

While gold and silver prices faced a modest correction, traders poured into the metal commodities amid rising US-China tensions, the upcoming US presidential elections, and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. With the cold and flu season on the horizon, there are fears that the coronavirus outbreak could worsen. But this served as a buying opportunity for gold and silver investors since the consensus is that they have plenty of room to surge.

However, a surprising rebounding US dollar might limit gold’s ascent. The US Dollar Index, which gauges the greenback against a basket of currencies, rallied 0.62% to 93.30, from an opening of 92.72. A strengthening buck is bad for dollar-denominated commodities because it makes it more expensive for foreign investors to purchase. The dollar has crashed more than 10% since hitting a peak of 103.00 earlier this year, but the index has advanced 1% over the last week.

In other metal markets, October copper futures slipped $0.04, or 1.31%, to $3.022 per pound. October platinum futures added $15.50, or 1.7%, to $913.20 per ounce. October palladium futures dropped $48.70, or 2.08%, to $2,294.50 an ounce.