Gold climbs as greenback weakens on escalating US-China trade spat

NEW YORK/LONDON — Gold rose on Wednesday as the dollar weakened, indicating investors are starting to worry about the impact of the US-China trade war on the US economy, luring some buyers back into precious metals investments.

The US dollar edged lower against the euro and fell to the lowest level in nearly three weeks against the risk-sensitive Aussie, as investors held off on embracing the greenback amid the latest round of tariffs by China and the US.

Spot gold climbed 0.5% to $1,203.68 per ounce by 1:33 p.m. EDT (1733 GMT). US futures for December delivery settled up $5.40 or 0.5% at $1,208.30 per ounce.

“It appears that investors are beginning to view tariffs — while likely negative for China’s exports — could also prove detrimental to the United States as well, given the disruptive impact on global supply chains,” National Australia Bank economist John Sharma said.

China said on Wednesday it will not stoop to competitive devaluation of its currency, hours after it hit back with a softer punch than the one landed by the US in an escalating tariff dispute.

Gold prices have declined about 12% since April, hurt by the intensifying dispute and on rising US interest rates with investors buying the dollar in the belief the US has less to lose from the dispute.

Yet on Wednesday, the US dollar index fell against a basket of major currencies.

“The dollar is weaker against not just the majors. There’s been some expectation about some resurgence in emerging market currencies,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. “That’s supporting gold.”

The weaker dollar and calming fears of an emerging market currency fallout also supported palladium, despite eased automotive demand, traders said, as the metal climbed to its highest level in five months.

Autocatalyst metal palladium added 2.4% to $1,033.25 per ounce, after marking its highest price since April 19 at $1,041.70.

“Used chiefly in the auto industry, palladium profited also from the relief rally enjoyed by base metals. Because platinum hardly kept pace at all, the price gap between palladium and platinum widened,” Commerzbank said in a note.

Platinum gained one percent to $817.74 per ounce, after hitting its highest level since Aug. 13 at $823 during the session.

The spread between the two metals has increased to more than $210 from $176 a week ago.

Spot silver rose 0.8% to $14.24 an ounce. —