Gold prices touched a more than one-week high on Monday as fears of a protracted U.S.-China trade war, while poor economic data from the United States bolstered bets of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut.
Gold Prices
- Spot gold edged 0.1% higher to $1,286.21 per ounce as of 0714 GMT. Earlier in the session, the metal touched $1,287.32, its highest since May 17.
- U.S. gold futures gained 0.2%, to $1,285.60 an ounce.
“Gold has really reversed earlier losses as risk appetite in the market remains rather shaky,” said Benjamin Lu, an analyst with Singapore-based Phillip Futures.
“U.S. sanctions on Huawei and even the rest of the Chinese technology firms have really aggravated trade tensions.”
According to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao, gold may retest a resistance at $1,290 an ounce, a break above which could lead to a gain to the next resistance at $1,295.
Meanwhile, hedge funds and money managers sharply reduced their net long positions in COMEX gold in the week to May 21, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.
- Among other precious metals, silver rose 0.3% to $14.61 per ounce, while palladium fell 0.4% to $1,329.90.
- Platinum rose 0.3% to $804.50 an ounce.
The U.S. dollar was struggling against a basket of six major currencies, having fallen off a two-year peak in the previous session due in part to the U.S.-China trade dispute
