Gold rises on renewed US-China trade tensions

[BENGALURU] Gold prices rose on Monday as the dollar eased amid renewed concerns over a trade war after China imposed extra tariffs on US products in response to US duties on imports of aluminium and steel.

After falling in the past three trading sessions, spot gold edged up 0.4 per cent to US$1,329.24 per ounce at 0343 GMT.

China has slapped extra tariffs of up to 25 per cent on 128 US products including frozen pork, as well as wine and certain fruits and nuts, in response to US duties on imports of aluminium and steel.

The tariffs take effect on Monday and match a list of potential tariffs on up to US$3 billion in US goods published by China on March 23.

"The trade war is going on and it is getting worse, so that might be the reason that people are selling dollar and buying gold," said Yuichi Ikemizu at ICBC Standard Bank in Tokyo.

Gold fell 1.7 per cent last week in its biggest such drop since early December. But the precious metal climbed 1.7 per cent in January-March, posting its third straight quarterly gain.

US gold futures rose 0.4 per cent to US$1,333.10 an ounce.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, eased 0.2 per cent to 89.988.

Hedge funds and money managers increased their net long positions in COMEX gold contracts in the week to March 27, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.

Gold speculators raised their net long position by 50,996 contracts to 172,834 contracts, CFTC data showed.

In other precious metals, spot silver climbed 0.6 per cent to US$16.41 per ounce.

Platinum rose 0.9 per cent to US$936 per ounce, having fallen to its lowest since end-December in the previous session.

Palladium was up 0.2 per cent at US$953.55 an ounce after falling to US$938.22 on Thursday, its lowest level since Oct 11.

REUTERS