Gold prices remained upbeat in early Asian trade on Tuesday after hitting a series of record highs on concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies and heightened global geopolitical tensions.
Anticipation of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week also kept markets broadly risk averse, although the central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday.
Spot gold steadied at $5,040.74 an ounce by 19:40 ET (00:40 GMT), while gold futures for April delivery slid 1% to $5,072.86/oz. Spot gold hit a record high of $5,111.11/oz on Monday.
Other precious metal prices were upbeat on Tuesday. Spot silver traded up 3.2% at $107.1735/oz, while spot platinum jumped 1.4% to $2,621.21/oz.
Safe haven demand for precious metals shot up in recent weeks after Trump threatened trade tariffs against several U.S. allies, most notably an effective trade embargo on Canada.
The president objected to a potential trade between Canada and China, and threatened 100% tariffs on Ottawa.
Trump on Monday evening also said he was raising trade tariffs against South Korean goods to 25%, claiming that Seoul was delaying in enacting a recent trade deal.
While the U.S. president did temper his demands for Greenland and his threats of tariffs on Europe, markets still remained on edge over any more such moves from Trump.
Heightened geopolitical tensions in Iran and the Middle East, as U.S. ships arrived in the region, also kept markets on edge.
