LONDON: Gold steadied after falling to its lowest in more than six months on Thursday as mounting pressure from a US-driven trade dispute propelled the dollar to near a one-year high and led investors to dump equities. Global equities slipped to their lowest in almost three months, buffeted again after US President Donald Trump outlined plans to clamp down on Chinese acquisitions of sensitive American technologies.

In other precious metals, spot silver was 0.3pc higher at $16.10 an ounce. In the prior session, it touched its lowest since mid-December at $15.94. Palladium slipped 0.6pc to $947.60 an ounce. Platinum fell 0.7pc to $850.00 per ounce, having touched $845.50, its lowest since late January 2016.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2018