LONDON: Gold steadied off last week’s six-month low on Monday as concerns over a global trade war ratcheted higher after a report said the United States plans to bar Chinese companies from investing in its technology firms.

A stronger dollar kept the pressure on prices, however. The US Treasury Department is crafting rules that would block firms with at least 25 per cent Chinese ownership from buying US companies involved in “industrially significant technology”, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

This was the latest escalation in a global trade war that has seen China and the United States threaten billions of dollars worth of tariffs on each other’s imports.

The standoff between the world’s two largest economies threatens to limit global economic growth, analysts said, but could benefit gold which can shine in time of economic and political turmoil.

Danske Bank analyst Jens Pedersen said the risk-off mood was being seen in the commodities space on Monday. “Today on a relative gold basis, gold is performing better than commodities and equities,” he said.

Spot gold was steady at $1,268 an ounce as of 1035 GMT, close to a six-month low touched on Thursday of $1,260.84. US gold futures for August delivery were flat at $1,270.80 per ounce. Global shares fell on escalating trade tensions, while the dollar index , which measures the US unit against a basket of six major currencies, was firmer at 94.581, having hit its highest since July 2017 at 95.529 on Thursday.

“The general weakness in gold is mainly to do with dollar strength. It’s a dollar play, that is the main reason gold is down over the last few sessions,” said FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada. Last week US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed should continue with a gradual pace of interest rate hikes to balance its employment and inflation goals. Higher US interest rates make gold a less attractive investment since it does not bear interest.

Speculators trimmed their net long position, or bets on higher prices, in COMEX gold to the weakest in 2-1/2 years in the week to June 19, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.

In other precious metals, silver fell 0.3pc to $16.38 an ounce. Platinum was 0.4pc lower at $870 per ounce. It touched $851.74, the weakest since February 2016, in the previous session. Palladium was down 0.6pc at $951.22 per ounce. The metal slipped to a seven-week low of $947.15 an ounce on Friday.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2018