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Investing.com-- Gold prices surged to a record high in Asian trade on Friday, extending a recent run-up as demand for safe haven assets remained underpinned by heightened fears of a bitter U.S.-China trade war.
The yellow metal clocked stellar gains this week, outpacing all other metals as investors piled into bullion and the yen as safe havens. A rout in U.S. Treasury prices added to this trend, even as yields rose sharply.
Spot gold jumped more than 1% to a record high of $3,220.20 an ounce, while gold futures expiring in June soared 1.7% to $3,231.69/oz by 00:37 ET (04:37 GMT).
Gold surges amid US-China trade tariff exchange, weak dollar
Demand for gold was underpinned by heightened volatility in risk-driven assets, as the U.S. and China imposed steep trade tariffs on each other this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. tariffs on China will amount to 145%, while China imposed retaliatory measures of 84%.
Trump also signaled that he was waiting to be approached by China for trade talks, although Beijing expressed no intent of backing down.
While Trump had earlier this week postponed plans to impose sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on other countries, his trade tiff with China still presents heightened uncertainty for the U.S. and global economy.
This notion also saw investors steadily dump U.S.-tied assets such as the dollar and Treasury notes, in favor of gold. Softer-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data also weighed on the dollar, as traders upped bets on earlier interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Gold had briefly lost ground after Trump’s u-turn on reciprocal tariffs, but rebounded to new peaks through Thursday night.
Weakness in the dollar helped spark some gains in broader metal prices on Friday, although most metals had largely lagged gold in recent weeks.
Platinum futures rose 0.5% to $935.75/oz, while silver futures rose 1.6% to $31.245/oz.
Copper rises, but China uncertainty weighs
Among industrial metals, copper prices rose on Friday against a weaker dollar. But the red metal was nursing steep losses in recent weeks, as the onset of a U.S.-China trade war ramped up concerns over slowing demand. Broader commodity prices- specifically those tied to economic activity- all retreated, with oil hitting a four-year low earlier this week.
Benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.6% to $8,959.80 a ton, while U.S. copper futures fell 0.6% to $4.3675 a pound.
LME copper futures were trading up about 3% this week after a 10.5% slump in the prior week, while U.S. copper futures were down 0.6% this week after a 14% slump last week.
Traders feared that a global trade war and uncertainty over U.S. economic policies will weigh on economic growth this year, denting demand for the red metal and other commodities.