Investing.com – Gold prices languished at session lows amid dollar strength as the prospect of a global trade war failed to garner safe-haven demand despite the White House confirming President Trump was set to sign tariffs on steel and aluminium imports Thursday afternoon.
Gold futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $5.70, or 0.44%, to $1,321.70 a troy ounce. Gold prices are on track to post their third weekly loss.
The White House confirmation that Trump will sign the trade tariffs at 3:30 p.m. ET Thursday, comes on heels of Trump telling reporters that he would stick to his previously announced tariffs.
"I'm sticking with 10 and 25 (percent) initially. I'll have a right to go up or down, depending on the country, and I'll have a right to drop out countries or add countries," Trump told reporters at the beginning of a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
With both the EU and China reaffirming intentions to undertake retaliation action should Trump follow through on trade tariffs, the prospect of global trade war intensified somewhat but safe-demand remained timid.
Safe-haven gold failed to recover losses as trades looked ahead to the release of the nonfarm payrolls data including average hourly earnings data slated Friday, which if strong-than-expected could renewed expectations for a faster pace of rate hikes.
Gold is sensitive to moves higher in both bond yields and the U.S. dollar – A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of foreign currency while a rise in U.S. rates, lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.05% to $16.49 a troy ounce, while platinum futures lost 0.29% to $950.40 an ounce.
Copper fell 1.98% to $3.074, while natural gas added 1.16% to $2.78.