NEW YORK: Gold prices rose on Tuesday as the dollar crept lower and initial optimism over a trade truce between the United States and China ebbed, while investors looked forward to US inflation data due later in the day.
Spot gold was up 0.6% at $3,255.09 an ounce, as of 1144 GMT, after dropping more than 2% in the previous session. US gold futures were up 0.9% at $3,258.40. The dollar index slipped 0.2% after a sharp rise in the previous session.
A weaker greenback makes gold less expensive for those holding other currencies. “The uncertainty around the trade tariffs still remain in the marketplace... the stock market is taking a breather after massive rally and we are seeing a bit of decline of the dollar,” said Carlo Alberto De Casa, external analyst at Swissquote.
On Monday, US and China announced tariff reductions for the next three months, with US tariffs on Chinese imports dropping from 145% to 30% and Chinese duties on US imports falling to 10% from 125%, leading to a surge in global shares.
The US and China had imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on each other last month, triggering a trade war. Traders now await the US Consumer Price Index report for fresh signals on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy trajectory. The market is expecting a 55-basis-point rate cut this year by the Fed, starting September.
“If the inflation data happened to produce a downside miss this could take some momentum away from the USD, which could see gold make forward progress,” said KCM Trade Chief Market Analyst Tim Waterer. Gold, traditionally considered a safe-haven asset during times of political and economic uncertainty, tends to thrive in a low-interest-rate environment.
On the technical front, spot gold may retest support at $3,206 per ounce, a break below which could open the way towards $3,135, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
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