Investing.com – Gold prices traded flat on Tuesday pressured by a rally in the dollar to six-month highs but losses were limited as rising geopolitical uncertainty triggered demand for safe-haven assets.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $0.90, or 0.07%, to $1,291.10 a troy ounce.
Signs of US-China trade tensions saw traders pile into gold, helping the precious metal steady from a heavy selloff last week despite a strong uptick in the dollar.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose to a sixth-month high of 94.04.
A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of foreign currency, reducing demand for the yellow metal.
The uptick in geopolitical tensions arrived as President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was not pleased with recent U.S.-China trade talks and also raised doubts about whether the U.S.-North Korea summit would take place next month.
Also supporting the precious metal was a fall in U.S. bond yields ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s May meeting slated for 2PM ET.
In a rising interest rate environment, investor appetite for gold weakens as the opportunity cost of holding the precious metal increases relative to other interest-bearing assets such as bonds.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.90% to $16.43 a troy ounce, while platinum futures lost 0.76% to $901.90 an ounce.
Copper fell 1.98% to $3.07