Investing.com - Gold prices headed lower for a second consecutive session in early morning trade on Tuesday, hitting a six-month low, as the dollar moved higher and fears of escalating trade tensions did little to support the safe haven precious metal.
At 6:11AM ET (10:11GMT), gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $10.00, or 0.8%, to $1,258.90 a troy ounce. That was close to an intraday low of $1,257.70, its lowest level since December 18.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, gained 0.32% to 94.25, bouncing back from an overnight low of 93.84, which was the weakest level since June 14.
A stronger greenback makes the dollar-denominated metal more expensive for holders of foreign currencies.
Gold failed to react to the upside to concerns on Monday that the U.S. Treasury Department was said to be drafting curbs to stop companies with at least 25% Chinese ownership from buying U.S. tech firms.
Escalating the tensions, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is also President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, said China is prepared to face off against U.S.’s tariff threats.
Although gold is generally sought out as a safe haven store of value in times of political and economic uncertainty, the precious metal was unable to close Monday’s session with gains.
Financial markets seemed to regain some composure on Tuesday with some media pointing to remarks by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro who attempted to ease investor concerns about U.S. trade policy.
On Tuesday’s economic calendar, the focus will be on the Conference Board’s publication of consumer confidence for June which is expected to tick down slightly from the prior 128.0 to 127.6.
In other metals trading, silver futures fell 0.8% at $16.205 a troy ounce by At 6:13AM ET (10:13GMT).
Palladium futures lost 0.8% to $928.30 an ounce, while sister metal platinum slid 0.9% at $863.40.
In base metals, copper slipped 0.1% to $3.008 a pound.