· Gold fell to a near six-month low and platinum hit its lowest since February 2016 on Wednesday as a stronger greenback was overwhelmed by safe-haven buying, spurred by fears of a trade war between the world's twotop economies.
· The U.S. dollar index touched its highest since July 2017 against a basket of currencies, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods and Beijing said it would retaliate.
· Spot gold fell 0.1 percent at $1,276.19 per ounce by 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT), having touched its lowest since Dec. 22 at $1,270.
· U.S. gold futures for August delivery settled down $1.50, or 0.1 percent, at $1,278.60 per ounce.
· Platinum fell 1.6 percent at $867 an ounce, earlier touching its lowest since February 3, 2016 at $856.85.
· "In these environments, the Treasuries and dollars would tend to be safe havens," said TD Securities' Bart Melek. "Gold would tend to be as well, though you had a big jump in the dollar, so that pressures gold."
· The rising prospect of further U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate increases placed further pressure on gold. U.S. homebuilding surged to near an 11-year high in May.
Rate hikes would limit gold because they make non interest-bearing commodities less attractive to investors.
· Other market watchers said gold prices fell to technical selling.
· "Momentum selling accelerated through the lows as weak technicals (for now) outweighs a supporting macro environment (stocks, yields down, Japanese yen up)," said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.
· Gold prices broke below the May low at $1,281.76 per ounce, then the lows from the last couple of days, and continued selling off, Key Metal Refining's Magilligan added.
· Meanwhile, silver dropped 0.5 percent at $16.32 an ounce, after hitting its lowest since May 16 at $16.21.
· Palladium lost 2.3 percent at $967.25 an ounce, after marking its lowest since May 21 at $964.20.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng