Gold has emerged as one of the go-to assets for investors seeking havens as the U.S.-China trade war escalates and growth slows, although its ascent toward $1,500 an ounce suffered a small setback on Tuesday after the People's Bank of China set a stronger currency fixing.
Bullion initially hit a six-year high as the Trump administration formally labeled China a currency manipulator, underscoring the rapidly deteriorating relationship between the two largest economies. The gain was then rolled back after the PBOC set the fixing stronger than the key level of 7.
Spot gold advanced as much as 0.8% to $1,474.93 an ounce, the highest level since May 2013, and was little changed at $1,466.32 at 10:44 a.m. in Singapore. Futures followed a similar arc on the Comex, rising to an intraday peak of $1,486.80 an ounce before giving up the bulk of that climb.
In other precious metals, silver was 0.2% stronger, platinum was flat, and palladium rose 0.4%.
Source : Bloomberg