Gold prices low

GOLD prices yesterday held near two-week lows touched in the previous session, as the dollar recouped losses after cautious comments from US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer dented investors’ hopes for a closure to the tariff war with China.

As of 0340 GMT, spot gold and the US gold futures were down 0,1 percent at $1,318.50 and $1,320.10 per ounce respectively.

The safe-haven metal slipped to its lowest since 15 February at $1,316.43 in the previous session and dropped for the first time in five months.

Lighthizer told a Congressional hearing it is too early to predict the outcome of ongoing trade talks with Beijing and the United States will need to maintain the threat of tariffs on Chinese goods for years even if the two sides strike a deal.

“There is some uncertainty about the trade deal and some of the safe-haven ( demand) has gone to the US dollar. That has taken a bit of a bid from gold,” said John Sharma, economist, National Australian Bank.

The dollar index, which measures the green-back against a basket of currencies, bounced back from three-week lows.

“Overall, gold is expected to go up with some corrections and prices will move around the $1,310$1,330 levels depending on the dollar,” Sharma said, adding, “main support comes from Federal Reserve’s dovish stance and a lot of central banks are keen on accumulating gold.”

The US Central Bank will stop shrinking its $ 4 trillion balance sheet later this year, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday, ending a process that investors say works at cross-purposes with the Fed’s current pause on interest-rate hikes.