Investing.com – Gold prices slipped on Tuesday amid easing geopolitical tensions, as more strikes on Syria seemed unlikely.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $0.8, or 0.06%, to $1,342.8 a troy ounce by 12:11AM ET (04:11 GMT).
As geopolitical concerns eased, investors now turned their attention to economic data from China, the world’s second largest economy, on Tuesday and the high-level trade talks between the U.S. and Japan this week to look for cues.
China’s GDP growth figures for the first quarter of 2018 came in at 6.8% year-on-year, in line with market expectation. However, the country’s industrial production data were worse than expected, posting 6.0% compared to the estimated 6.4%.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies edged up 0.1% to 89.15.
Dollar-denominated assets such as gold are sensitive to moves in the dollar – a gain in the dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of foreign currency and thus decreases demand for the precious metal.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.04% to $16.67 a troy ounce, while platinum futures added 0.3% to $934.90 an ounce.