Investing.com – Gold prices showed mild increases Tuesday morning in Asia.
Gold futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 0.15% to $1,289 a troy ounce by 10:15 AM ET (3:15 AM GMT) on Tuesday morning.
Over the past three weeks, gold has given up some of the gains from a big three-month run up. Prices rose from around $1,200 in mid-November to almost $1,348 on Feb. 20 but have since dropped by about 4.4%.
News on Monday that a potential trade deal between the U.S. and China could happen soon helped lift stock markets but put downward pressure on safe-haven assets like gold. On Tuesday, however, concerns rose about the ultimate impact of such a trade deal and those concerns gave gold some of its luster back.
And also supporting gold prices in the medium term was the release of an updated forecast for gold prices by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).
The investment bank now expects gold to touch $1,350 in three months, up from a previous forecast of $1,325. In six months, the bank expects gold to hit $1,400 and $1,450 in 12 months on the back of falling unemployment rates in the US that could support inflows into exchange-traded funds, low growth in Europe, higher geopolitical tensions, a weaker dollar and faster GDP growth in emerging markets that could boost gold price, according to FX Street.
Goldman Sachs also lifted its forecast for silver.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies fell marginally by 0.01% to 96.67.