By Anmol Choubey
(Reuters) – Gold prices dropped on Monday as the dollar touched an over two-week high, while investors took stock of U.S. President Donald Trump’s more cautious stance on tariffs against trading partners.
Spot gold fell 0.6% to $3,006.84 an ounce at 01:42 p.m. (1742 GMT). U.S. gold futures settled 0.2% lower at $3,015.60.
“We’ve hit a record after record and now the market is just consolidating these gains and this is enforced by somewhat higher U.S. dollar,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities.
Gold, traditionally seen as a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainties and often thriving in a low-interest-rate environment, has hit 16 record highs this year and reached an all-time peak of $3057.21 last week.
The U.S. dollar rose 0.2%, hitting an over two-week high and making greenback-priced bullion more expensive for overseas buyers. [USD/]
Trump hinted on Friday that there would be some flexibility regarding reciprocal tariffs that are set to take effect on April 2 and are expected to drive inflation and hinder economic growth.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady last week and indicated two quarter-percentage-point cuts this year.
Investors now await U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures data due on Friday, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure.
“We’re looking at a level of about $3,150 plus, later in the year that gold will likely strive to as the Fed starts loosening monetary policy,” Melek said.
Meanwhile, U.S. and Russian officials held talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at making progress towards a broad ceasefire in Ukraine, with Washington eyeing a separate Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal before securing a wider agreement.
“If over the week the talks in Saudi Arabia do materialize and there is a dip in gold based off that, I expect it will be bought up fairly quickly,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
Spot silver fell 0.3% to $32.94 an ounce, platinum fell 0.5% to $969.77, and palladium was down 0.7% at $951.10.
(Reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru. Editing by Mark Potter, Ros Russell and Vijay Kishore)
