Investing.com - Global slowdown fears are growing, but the bigger beneficiary this time seems to be the dollar, not precious metals.
Gold prices advanced slightly on Tuesday and those of palladium fell, while the dollar rallied after the International Monetary Fund revised downward its 2019 global growth forecast to 3.5% from October's 3.7%.
Chinese data also showed the lowest annual economic growth in nearly 30 years, while factory orders indicated a further loss in activity and jobs.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division, gold futures settled up $0.80 at $1,283.40.
The spot price of gold, or bullion, was up $4.84, or 0.4%, at $1,285.12 per ounce by 2:32 PM ET (19:00 GMT).
Palladium futures contracts settled down $28.60, or 2.1%, at $1,306.50.
The spot price of palladium traded at $1,347.50 per ounce, down $9.35, or 0.7%. On Thursday, it hit all-time highs of $1,440.35. That makes it the world's most valuable traded metal now, although gold's previous record highs were above $1,900 an ounce.
Tuesday's risk aversion drove investors off stocks and toward the dollar, rather than than gold, which seemed the preferred safe haven during last years's market rout, or palladium, which had lately become an obsession for investors due to physical scarcity of the auto-catalyst metal.
The dollar index, measured against a basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.95 after hitting a near three-week high at 96.148.
In other precious metals on Comex, silver futures slid by 3.6 cents, or 0.23%, to $15.36 per ounce.
In base metals,copper fell 6.1 cents, or 2.2%, to $2.65 per lb.