PRECIOUS-Gold firms near 6-year peak as trade tensions trigger safe-haven bets

* SPDR Gold holdings up 0.5% on Monday
* Dollar slips to two-week low
* Spot gold may fall into $1,441-$1,449/oz range - techs

(Adds chart, updates prices)
By Harshith Aranya
Aug 6 (Reuters) - Gold prices held firm near six-year highs
on Tuesday as investors flocked to safety after the United
States designated Beijing a currency manipulator, escalating a
protracted trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.2% at $1,460.19 per ounce as of
0734 GMT after hitting its highest level since May 2013, at
$1,474.81, earlier in the session.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were down 0.3% at $1,472.40 an
ounce.
"There have been comments that China is going to use its
currency tool a bit more, because they are beginning to lose
their trade deal with the U.S.," said John Sharma, an economist
with National Australia Bank.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday the
government had determined that Beijing was manipulating its
currency, and Washington would engage with the International
Monetary Fund to "to eliminate the unfair competitive advantage
created by China's latest actions". This comes after China allowed its yuan to weaken past the
key 7-per-dollar level for the first time in more than a decade,
following Washington's decision to impose 10% tariffs on $300
billion of Chinese imports, ending a month-long trade
truce. Helping gold's momentum, the dollar index .DXY slipped to
a two-week low, while U.S. longer-dated Treasury yields posted
their biggest fall in 14 months. USD/ US/
Gold may have moved too quickly relative to the dollar,
wrote Stephen Innes, managing partner, Vanguard Markets, in a
note.
"We may be entering a period of consolidation where an
opportunity to reengage gold positions at much better levels
might present itself," Innes added.
The fresh escalations in the protracted trade war between
the U.S. and China rattled financial markets around the world,
driving investors towards safe-haven assets. MKTS/GLOB
"The market sell-off could still see another major push
lower and that will likely be the catalyst to take gold above
$1,500 an ounce," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA,
said.
Indicative of sentiment, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust GLD ,
the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.53%
to 835.16 tonnes on Monday from Friday. GOL/ETF
Meanwhile, gold priced in sterling soared to a record high on
Monday, spurred by fear of a disorderly British exit from the
European Union amidst trade tensions. On the technical side, spot gold may fall into a range of
$1,441-$1,449 per ounce, according to Reuters technical analyst
Wang Tao. Among other precious metals, silver XAG= inched down 0.1%
to $16.38 per ounce.
Platinum XPT= rose 0.4% to $856.77, and palladium XPD=
was up 1.6% to $1,437.28 an ounce.

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