Investing.com – Gold prices gained on Tuesday as intensifying U.S.-China trade tensions fuelled investor appetite for safe-haven gold. A softer dollar was also cited as supportive.
Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were up $5.70, or 0.44%, to $1,285.70 a troy ounce by 12:40 AM ET (04:40 GMT).
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he has ordered the U.S. Trade Representative to identify $200 billion worth of China goods for additional tariffs.
Trump said in a statement that the move would be in retaliation for China’s earlier decision to raise tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. goods.
"China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology. Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening United States companies, workers, and farmers who have done nothing wrong," Trump said.
"After the legal process is complete, these tariffs will go into effect if China refuses to change its practices, and also if it insists on going forward with the new tariffs that it has recently announced," he added.
On Friday, Trump said he was pushing ahead with a 25% tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese products.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.18% to 94.24.
Dollar-denominated assets such as gold are sensitive to moves in the dollar – A fall in the dollar makes gold less expensive for holders of foreign currency and thus, increases demand for the precious metal.
In other precious metal trade, Silver Futures climbed 0.43% to $16.510 a troy ounce, Platinum Futures lost 0.2% to $882.50 an ounce and Copper Futures lost 0.7% to $3.103.