LONDON: Gold climbed nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday, having drifted near $1,200 an ounce this week, as the dollar fell versus the yuan while investors focussed on strong corporate earnings rather than China-US trade tensions.

“At the moment gold is more sensitive to the yuan than the dollar (index), so if the dollar is rallying but not against the yuan, gold is stable. The correlation (with the yuan) is almost one on one,” ABN Amro commodities strategist Georgette Boele said.

Spot gold was up 0.7pc at $1,214.96 an ounce, while US gold futures were up 0.5pc at $1,223.20 an ounce. Gold has dropped nearly 12pc since mid-April, largely failing to benefit from trade tensions that have directed safety flows into the dollar away from other traditional safe havens such as gold.

Silver rose 1.1pc to $15.43 an ounce. Platinum gained 1.6pc to $833.97 per ounce, while palladium was 1.2pc higher at $915.20 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2018