LONDON: Gold prices edged lower on Thursday after an upbeat assessment of the US economy by the Federal Reserve and new trade tensions between Washington and Beijing boosted the dollar and US bond yields.

Gold has slumped 11 per cent since April to its lowest in a year as rising US interest rates and the perception that trade wars will damage the United States less than other nations pushed the dollar higher.

The stronger dollar hurts gold because it makes bullion more expensive for buyers with other currencies. But with the dollar up 0.4pc against a basket of currencies at 1224 GMT, spot gold was holding fairly steady, down 0.1pc at $1,214.51 an ounce.

US gold futures were down 0.4pc at $1,223.3 an ounce. Gold was helped by strong technical support including its low point of $1,211.08 last month, the 50pc retracement of its rally in the first half of 2016 and the psychologically key level of $1,200 an ounce.

In other precious metals, silver was up 0.4pc at $15.40 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.8pc to $818.20 an ounce and palladium was 0.1pc lower at $913.25 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2018