Gold slips as dollar steadies, N. Korea headlines in focus

Gold edged down from two- month highs on Monday as the dollar inched up from last week’s lows and investors kept a close watch on any developments regarding tensions in the Korean Peninsula.

Spot gold was down 0.51 percent to $ 1,281.11 per ounce at 5: 10 am ( US time) after marking its highest since June 7 at $ 1,291.86 an ounce in the previous session.

US gold futures for December delivery were little changed at $ 1,293.8 per ounce.

“Maybe geopolitical tensions are easing so it’s natural for gold to come down a bit... But it’s very unpredictable because prices could rise to another high if there is some change,” said Richard Xu, a fund manager at China’s biggest gold exchange- traded fund, HuaAn Gold. “After the sharp selloff in the dollar, nothing happened over the weekend, so I guess the threat from the [ Korean] peninsula is low, but we think gold fundamentals are strong,” Xu said.

The dollar on Monday edged higher against the Japanese yen, trading above last week’s near four- month low, with rising tensions between the US and North Korea seen as the key to the near- term outlook.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was almost unchanged at 93.109.

US President Donald Trump is- sued a new threat to North Korea on Friday by saying the US military was “locked and loaded” as Pyongyang accused him of driving the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war and as world powers expressed alarm.

Geopolitical risks can boost demand for assets considered safe- haven investments, such as gold.

But in the long run, “we see upward pressure on gold prices stemming from the confrontation as limited,” analysts at BMI Research said.