Investing.com - Gold capped out an unusually strong finish to 2019 despite the absence of more U.S. interest rate cuts. The yellow metal hit more than three-month highs on Tuesday and finished the year with double-digit gains as investors sought the safe haven as a hedge to the U.S.-China trade war and other global troubles.
Gold futures for February delivery on New York’s COMEX settled up $4.50, or 0.3%, at $1,523.10 per ounce. It hit a session high of 1,528.25 earlier in the day, a peak since late September.
Spot gold, which tracks live trades in bullion, was up $5.56, or 0.4%, at $1,520.58 by 2:52 PM ET (19:52 GMT), after an 11-week high of $1,525.32 earlier.
Gold futures ended the year 16% higher, while bullion rose 18%.
While the U.S.-China trade dispute itself could have a preliminary closure with a phase one slated for signing in mid-January, according to President Donald Trump, gold’s allure is by no means over, traders said.
“There are just too many variables out there that require a hedge and gold is the best safe haven to provide that now,” said George Gero, precious metals analyst at RBC Wealth Management in New York.
The dollar fell to a three-week low on Monday as more investors withdrew from the currency that had become an indirect bet against the U.S.-China trade war. Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday that the phase one of the U.S.-China deal will be signed at the White House on Jan. 15 and that he will travel to China to discuss the second phase.
Gold also had a late rally in the year as investors plowed into the yellow metal as a hedge agianst the overflowing risks on Wall Street where stocks had been hitting one record high after another. Bullion and gold futures have tacked on more than $65 an ounce over the past three weeks to reclaim the bullish $1,500 perch and progress from there, despite the Federal Reserve indivating in early December a halt to rate cuts reintroduced after a four-year hiatus.
Stocks on Wall Street slipped on Tuesday, ending a streak of record highs ahead of the New Year’s Eve as investors took profit on news of the imminent U.S.-China signing.