LONDON: Gold marked a new low for the year on Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnu­chin’s declaration that a trade war between China and the United States was “on hold” helped boost appetite for higher risk assets such as stocks and the dollar.

Spot gold fell to its lowest since late December at $1,281.76 an ounce, and by 1205 GMT was down 0.5pc at $1,285.17 an ounce. US gold futures for June delivery were 0.5pc lower at $1,284.50.

He said gold could benefit from safe-haven buying in the long run if that exuberance loses steam and inflation pressures mount. But he added: “It’s possible that we might see a further correction in the very short term.

Gold prices fell below the psychologically important level of $1,300 an ounce last week, and posted the first weekly close below their 200-day moving average since late December.

Hedge funds and money managers cut their net long position in COMEX gold contracts by 21,294 contracts to 31,327 in the week to May 15, data showed on Friday.

Among other precious metals, platinum was down 0.2pc at $881 an ounce, after also marking a fresh low for the year in earlier trade at $873.50. Silver was down 0.2pc at $16.39 an ounce, while palladium, the most industrial of the major precious metals, was up 1.2pc at $974.70 an ounce, bucking the falling trend.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2018