LONDON: Gold rose on Friday as the dollar steadied and investors grew jittery about an escalation in the US-China trade dispute after fresh threats by US President Donald Trump, although bullion is still heading for its fifth straight monthly decline.

Spot gold was up 0.4 per cent at $1,204.40 an ounce at 1218 GMT, a gain of around 4pc from the 19-month low of $1,159.96 hit on August 16. US gold futures were up 0.4pc at $1,210.30 an ounce.

Gold prices are down 1.6pc so far in August. Losses total more than 7pc so far this year.

Trump is prepared to ramp up a trade war with China and has told aides he is ready to impose tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese imports as soon as a public comment period on the plan ends next week, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

“Trump’s plans have had a significant impact on sentiment and the slightly weaker dollar is supporting gold,” said Peter Fertig, analyst at Quantitative Commodity Research, adding that the emerging-market currency crisis was also helping gold.

A lower US currency makes dollar-priced gold cheaper for holders of other currencies and would potentially boost demand. This is a relationship used by funds to generate buy and sell signals.

Silver was up 0.1pc at $14.55 an ounce, palladium was up 1.2pc at $976.60 an ounce and platinum rose 0.8pc to $790.35 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2018