Investing.com - Gold prices rose on Tuesday as risk appetite faded after getting a boost from an agreement between the U.S. and Canada on Sunday that salvaged the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The new deal ensured the continuation of a $1.2 trillion-a-year open-trade zone and lifted market sentiments on Wall Street, but the lift faded on Tuesday as Asian equities traded most lower, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index down more than 2.2% in afternoon trade.
Gold futures for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.34% to $1,195.70 a troy ounce by 2:00AM ET (06:00 GMT).
"Prices have hovered around $1,190/oz and there is some demand from speculators and physical buyers at this level," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong.
Gold is down about 13% from its April high, largely because of the stronger dollar, which has been boosted by strong U.S. economy data and fears of a global trade war.
"I don't see the U.S. dollar doing much ahead of Friday's non-farm payroll data. I look for that key print to drive the pace of the U.S. Federal Reserve repricing rates higher, which I think will boost the dollar's appeal," said Stephen Innes, APAC trading head at OANDA in Singapore.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, inched up 0.04% to 94.96.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will be speaking on "The Outlook for Employment and Inflation" before the National Association for Business Economics later in the day, and traders would be paying close attention on any hints on the future paths of interest rate hikes.
The Fed raised rates last week and said it planned four more increases by the end of 2019 and another in 2020.