Investing.com – Gold prices edged down on Tuesday despite escalating trade concerns between the U.S. and other major economies.
Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 0.33% to $1,264.70 a troy ounce by 1:15AM ET (05:15 GMT).
The U.S. Treasury Department was said to be drafting curbs to stop companies with at least 25% Chinese ownership from buying U.S. tech firms. The news provided some support for gold prices earlier in the day and sent the U.S. stocks down on Monday.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is also President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, said China is prepared to face off against U.S.’s tariff threats. Speaking at a press conference following talks on Monday in Beijing, Liu said China is prepared to face off against U.S.’s tariff threats.
“Unilateralism is on the rise and trade tensions have appeared in major economies,” Liu said. “China and the EU firmly oppose trade unilateralism and protectionism and think these actions may bring recession and turbulence to the global economy.”
Meanwhile, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said American restriction on Chinese investments would not be as damaging to growth as markets expected.
"Rising trade tensions should have (but did not) help gold's cause all that much. Instead, it seems that the concern of rising interest rates, particularly in the U.S., continues to gnaw away at gold, as does the fact that the fund length is fleeing," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.
The U.S. Dollar Index that measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies dropped 0.07% to 93.88.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.14% to $16.305 a troy ounce, while platinum futures fell 0.37% at $868.00 an ounce.