GOLD prices climbed on Wednesday (Feb 26), recovering from a one-week low touched in the previous session, as uncertainties stemming from US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans dampened risk appetite and boosted demand for safe-haven bullion.
Spot gold was up 0.3 per cent at US$2,925.05 an ounce, as at 0041 GMT. Prices dropped more than 2 per cent on Tuesday.
US gold futures rose 0.6 per cent to US$2,936.30.
Amid the ongoing tariff threats, Trump opened yet another front on Tuesday in his assault on global trade norms, ordering a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild US production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods.
As an aftermath of tariff concerns, US consumer confidence deteriorated at its sharpest pace in 3½ years in February, while 12-month inflation expectations surged.
“It’s hard to make significant monetary policy changes amid such uncertainty,” Richmond Federal Reserve president Tom Barkin said on Tuesday.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Higher inflation may force the Fed to keep rates higher, tarnishing non-yielding gold’s appeal.
Concerns about a looming trade war, fuelled by Trump’s tariff proposals, have driven gold, a safe-haven asset, to reach a record high of US$2,956.15 on Monday.
Elsewhere, China’s total gold imports via Hong Kong in January fell 44.8 per cent from December to their lowest point since April 2022, data from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department showed on Tuesday.
Spot silver was steady at US$31.72 an ounce, platinum rose 0.1 per cent to US$967.35, and palladium was 0.3 per cent higher at US$930.32. REUTERS
