• Gold on Tuesday hovered near a five-week peak hit the session before, buoyed by a weaker US dollar and as the fear that Britain will not have a clean break with the EU stoked safe-haven buying.
• Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,184.56/oz by 2.49am GMT. On Monday, it touched its highest since December 5 at $1,185.80.
• "The comments on the UK around Brexit that impacted the pound saw some safe-haven buying," said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes.
· "The precious metal has got plenty of headwinds in the medium term. We are not expecting to see any particular upside to the rally we have seen in the past weeks. The outlook for rate hikes in the US will be the biggest driver of gold prices in 2017," Hynes added.
• Focus is turning towards a news conference on Wednesday when US president-elect Donald Trump may give more details on policies that could be implemented after he takes office on January 20.
• "As Trump’s inauguration date nears, we suspect gold investors will monitor political developments more closely. Any significant ratcheting higher in geopolitical tensions could help trigger safe-haven bullion demand," HSBC analyst James Steel wrote in a note.
• Dubai has imposed a 5% import duty on gold, a move that is likely to hit India's exports to the country, a report by The Economic Times, said.
The reports say that while the move will hit gold and diamond jewellery imports to Dubai, it may also help in bringing back demand for bridal jewellery to the country. Currently, a significant portion of demand for bridal jewellery goes to Dubai to take advantage of cheaper gold prices. However, the latest move by the country's government may keep bridal jewllery shoppers here.
Reference: Dnaindia,Reuters
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