Investing.com - Gold prices slipped on Wednesday morning in Asia, easing back from the three-month highs reached in the previous session amid hightened geopolitical tensions.
Gold futures for December delivery inched down 0.05% to $1,236.1 per troy ounce at 10:26PM ET (02:26 GMT) on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting a three-month high of $1,242.8 on Tuesday. The U.S. dollar index dipped to 95.72.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate on Oct.2, was the victim of a “vicious, violent murder.” He said that the killing was “planned” and “brutal,” and urged the kingdom to extradite the suspects to Turkey.
Erdogan’s revelation contradicted with the kingdom’s claim that the journalist was killed by a “rogue operation.” The speech was criticised as underdelivering as it did not address the Saudi’s alleged dismembering of Khashoggi’s body.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on the same day that the kingdom is conducting a “comprehensive investigation” into the incident and dispatched a team to Turkey.
The U.S. has revoked the visas of the 21 arrested Saudis that were allegedly involved in the incident. Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, said, “These penalties will not be the last word on the matter from the U.S.”
Another source of geopolitical tensions comes from Italy’s problematic budget, which the European Commission rejected on Tuesday, marking the first time the EU refused to accept a government’s spending plans.
“Italy’s debt is among the highest in Europe, and Italian taxpayers spend about the same amount on it as on education. In this spirit, we see no alternative but to request the Italian government to revise its draft budgetary plan for 2019, and we look forward to an open and constructive dialogue in the weeks to come,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission in a statement.
Italy’s government was looking to raise public spending by lowering budget targets that were agreed upon with Brussels. It sent a letter to the commission on Monday that Italy plans to stand by its budget plans.