Gold prices gained as much as 1 percent on Friday on a faltering dollar and equities as investors scurried to safety after US President Donald Trump moved towards long-promised anti-China tariffs, prompting a strict response from China amid fears of a global trade war. Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China, but only after a 30-day consultation period that starts once a list is published.
China urged the United States to "pull back from the brink", while the Chinese commerce ministry unveiled plans to levy additional duties on up to $3 billion of US imports in response to the steel and aluminium tariffs. Uncertainties around a possible trade war between the United States and China are driving some safe-haven buying, said Hareesh V, head of commodity research, Geojit Financial Services.
Spot gold was up 0.81 percent at $1,339.33 per ounce, as of 0758 GMT. Earlier in the session, prices touched their highest since Feb 20 at $1,343.06, and were on track for their best weekly performance since the week of Feb. 16, rising over 2 percent. US gold futures for April delivery rose 0.9 percent to $1,339.50 per ounce.
"A trade war will harm both the US and Chinese economies... And any harm to the US economy will depreciate the dollar pushing gold higher," said Ji Ming, chief analyst, Shandong Gold Group.
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