(Reuters) – A surge in gold prices stopped on Tuesday as the dollar’s rise overshadowed growing concerns about a new Corona virus that has fueled demand for safe-haven assets.
A gold ingot in the Dubai Gold Market in a photo from Reuters archive.
By 0456 GMT, spot gold fell 0.1 percent to $ 1,579.38 an ounce, after hitting a three-week high on Monday. US gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $ 1578.10.
Gold prices rose in the past four sessions at a time when the spread of the Corona virus rocked the financial markets and prompted the authorities to impose travel restrictions and extend the lunar New Year holiday.
John Sharma, an economist at the National Bank of Australia, said growing concerns about the economic impact of the new Corona virus were supporting gold above $ 1580 an ounce.
“(Gold) could reach $ 1,600, but it will tend more to levels around $ 1570- $ 1590, as we need more information. There are a lot of unknown factors about the virus,” he said.
Asian stocks continued a global selling wave on Tuesday, with the death rate from HIV infection at 106 in China and some health experts questioning whether Beijing can contain the virus, which has spread to more than a dozen countries including France and the United States.
Gold is considered a safe investment in times of economic and political uncertainty.
But the rise of the smaller metal was halted by the rise of the dollar, whose index hovered near a two-month high in the previous session.
And for other precious metals, palladium advanced 1.4 percent to $ 2299.96 an ounce, after falling seven percent in the previous session.
Silver fell 0.2 percent to 18.05 dollars, while platinum rose 0.4 percent to 987.73 dollars.
Moataz Mohamed prepared for the Arab publication
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