Commodities: Gold rises on safe-haven demand amid volatility
Gold prices rose slightly on Tuesday as investors felt the precious metal was a safe zone away from volatile forex markets and sky-high equity markets.
Gold for April delivery advanced 0.3% to $1,191.40 an ounce, close to a three-week high, rising for the fifth straight day after the recent dollar rally came to an end. Meanwhile, equity investors were pausing for breath with indices currently trading at, or close to, record highs.
IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: “The US [inflation] reading did provide a brief blip in gold’s current upward move, but normal service was rapidly resumed, with the yellow metal holding on to the $1,190 area as a staging post before its attempt to recover $1,200.
"A few more days of dollar weakness is still the most obvious scenario, which provides time for gold to lift itself further off the lows of last week."
Meanwhile, Brent futures fell 0.9% to $55.43 at the end of Tuesday’s session, while ICE WTI futures increased 0.7% to $47.77.
CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler said: “Oil prices were less volatile than usual with WTI closing the gap slightly on its spread with Brent. A report has indicated oil prices may be set to slip further as refineries shut for maintenance in the second quarter further curbing demand.”
Over on LME, three-month copper futures decreased 0.2% to $6,118.50 a tonne after data from China showed that the manufacturing sector contracted in March.