• Gold held steady on Tuesday supported by geopolitical tensions over North Korea and after falling from a five-month high in the previous session on a firmer dollar.
Spot gold was mostly unchanged at $1,283.96 per ounce by 0246 GMT, after climbing to $1,295.42 in the prior session, its highest since Nov. 9.
• The dispute over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme remained taut as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in South Korea.
• "Gold looks fairly attractive at the current juncture as a safe haven bet with geopolitical tensions on a rise and concerns ahead of French elections," said Sugandha Sachdeva, head of metals, energy & currency research at Religare Securities.
"The Indian festival of Akshay Tritiya (in late April) should provide a fillip to physical demand and thus the prices," Sachdeva said, adding that the metal, however, was vulnerable to profit taking.
• "This weekend’s French Presidential first round elections are looking increasingly murky, and this will most likely fan safe-haven fires," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
"It will be news headlines and opinion polls that would drive gold’s short-term direction."
• "Trump’s penchant for a slightly weaker dollar and a gradual rise in rates is indicative of more legs to the recent rally in gold," Sachdeva of Religare Securities said.
• Spot gold may break a support at $1,281 per ounce and fall to the next support at $1,265, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
• Spot silver edged up 0.1 percent to $18.40 per ounce, after hitting over a five month high of $18.649 in the prior session.
• What U.S. Tax Reform Delay Could Mean For GoldAnd, according to one analyst interviewed by Kitco News, a significant delay in carrying out Trump's tax reform promise could boost gold, which is known for its safe-haven appeal.
Mnuchin made the comments in an interview published by the Financial Times on Monday, describing the August deadline for the massive tax reform bill as “highly aggressive [and] not realistic at this point.”
• Kieron Hodgson, a commodity and mining analyst from Panmure Gordon & Co, says that despite having a bullish outlook for the U.S. dollar, all other factors are in place to push the spot gold price higher.
He lists economic uncertainty (Brexit, French elections, Chinese debt levels), concerns over high equity valuations (the U.K. now has all 10 industry groups returning positive 5-year rolling performances for the first time), trading positions (short positions were peaked around the recent U.S. rate decision and then collapsed when the conversation switched to deleveraging the Federal Reserve's balance sheet), central banks (they are now marginal buyers of gold for the first time since 2012) and indeed the pickup in inflation as being the main issues that should continue to support the price of gold.
Reference:Reuters, Kitco, CNBC
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