Investing.com - Gold prices moved lower on Tuesday, trimming some of the previous day’s gains as traders crept back into risk assets and U.S. stocks attempted to recover from Monday’s selloff, dampening safe haven demand for bullion.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were last down by $11.60, or around 0.8%, to $1,335.30 a troy ounce at 10:44AM ET (14:44GMT).
The precious metal had pocketed gains of around 1.5% a day earlier as investor sentiment was hit by a selloff in tech shares that sent Wall Street tumbling and resurgent worries over a trade war. Investors tend to seek out gold as a store of value during times of political or economic uncertainty.
U.S. equities struggled to recover those losses on Tuesday with the Dow leading the rebound. Market participants remained cautious on Tuesday as fears of an all-out trade war between China and the U.S. continued to center investors’ attention. Beijing on Monday slapped additional tariffs of up to 25% on about $3 billion worth of U.S. products in response to new U.S. duties on aluminum and steel imports.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected this week to release list of Chinese imports targeted for U.S. tariffs to punish Beijing over technology transfer policies, a move expected to further intensify the strain between the world's two largest economies.
China will respond to any tariffs imposed by the U.S. against alleged violations of intellectual property rights with the same proportion, scale and intensity, its U.S. ambassador Cui Tiankai warned in an interview on Tuesday.
With no major economic reports on Tuesday’s calendar, markets mulled over comments from Minnesota Fed president Neel Kashkari. One of the most dovish members of the U.S. central bank, Kashkari admitted that he was surprised by the extent that the tax cut has lifted confidence, although he felt it was still unclear if it will lead to investment or lifter long-term growth.
Fed governor Lael Brainard was scheduled for an appearance at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT).
Elsewhere in metals trading, silver tumbled 1.87% to $16.360 a troy ounce by 10:45AM ET (14:45GMT), platinum slid 1.42% at $923.20 a troy ounce, palladium inched up 0.19% to $929.95 a troy ounce, while copper gained 0.13% to $3.054 a pound.