Bengaluru — Gold prices inched higher on Wednesday after hitting a one-week low in the previous session, as uncertainties stemming from US President Donald Trump's tariff plans dampened risk appetite and boosted demand for safe-haven bullion.
Spot gold was up 0.1% at $2,918.01/oz by 2.37am GMT, after falling more than 2% on Tuesday. US gold futures rose 0.5% to $2,932.50.
Trump opened yet another front on Tuesday in his assault on global trade norms, ordering a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild US production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods.
Trump tariff concerns, which were causing this rather lacklustre state of confidence in the US economy from a consumer side of the mindset, were supporting gold, said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific, at Oanda.
Offering further signs that Americans were growing anxious about the potential negative effect of Trump’s policies, US consumer confidence deteriorated at its sharpest pace in three-and-a-half years in February, while 12-month inflation expectations surged.
“It’s hard to make significant monetary policy changes amid such uncertainty,” Richmond Federal Reserve president Tom Barkin said on Tuesday.
High inflation may force the Fed’s to keep interest rates higher, tarnishing non-yielding gold’s appeal.
The fear of Trump’s tariff proposals triggering a major global trade war have helped gold scale record highs several times and gain about 11% so far this year.
Market players now await the US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) report, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, for insights into the central bank’s rate-easing path and monetary policy. The report is due on Friday.
“If the numbers confirm the underlying fear that inflation is ticking higher again, Fed rate-cutting expectations could be further reined-in,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade
Spot silver was steady at $31.74/oz, platinum fell 0.3% to $964.00 and palladium was up 0.3% at $930.73.
Reuters
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