Gold steadies below record $4,600/oz as investors book profits

Gold prices were broadly steady on Tuesday, trading below a record $4,600/ounce level reached in the last session amid sharpened geopolitical and economic uncertainty as investors booked profits.

Spot gold traded little changed at $4,593.81 per ounce as of 0357 GMT, while US gold futures for February delivery slipped 0.3% to $4,602.70.

Bullion climbed more than 2% to hit an all-time high of $4,629.94 in the previous session as investors piled into safe-haven assets after the Trump administration opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Further fuelling geopolitical worries, US President Trump said on Monday any country that does business with Iran will face a 25% tariff on trade with the US, as Washington weighs its response to the crackdown on the biggest anti-government protests in years in the oil exporting nation.

Iran’s unrest comes as Trump flexes US muscles internationally, having captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and discussing acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.

Non-yielding assets tend to do well in a low-interest-rate environment and when geopolitical or economic risks spike.

Citi raised its three-month price targets to $5,000/oz for gold and $100/oz for silver respectively, citing strong investment momentum and as the multitude of bullish drivers are now likely to remain intact during the first quarter of the year.

“The ongoing physical market shortages on silver and platinum group metals could also marginally worsen in the short term due to a potential delay in the Section 232 tariff decisions, which eventually pose large binary risks on trade flows and prices.”

Spot silver added 0.6% to $85.42 per ounce after hitting an all-time high of $86.22 on Monday.

Spot platinum lost 0.7% to $2,327.43 per ounce after scaling a record peak of $2,478.50 on December 29.

Palladium slid 1.4% to $1,817.21 per ounce.