Investing.com - Gold gained in Asia on Wednesday as geopolitical tensions on the Korean peninsula hit risk sentiment.
Gold futures for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.57% to $1,269.81 a troy ounce.
North Korea said on Wednesday it is "carefully examining" plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury."
Earlier, China reported consumer and producer prices for July with CPI up 0.1%, compared to a 0.2% gain seen on month and at a 1.4% annual pace, compared to an expected 1.5% rise on year. PPI rose 5.5% as expected.
Overnight, gold prices edged lower on Tuesday, pressured by a rebound in the dollar, after U.S. job openings topped forecasts, pointing to an improving labor market, lifting expectations the Federal Reserve will keep to its plan to raise rates at least once more this year.
Gold struggled to hold onto gains, as the dollar hit a nearly two-week high, after U.S. job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased 461,000 to a seasonally adjusted 6.2 million, the highest level since the series started in December 2000, the Labor Department said on Tuesday.
Losses in the precious metal were limited, however, as some Fed members suggested that the slowdown in inflation will continue to weigh on the Fed’s ability to raise rates even if the U.S. job market continues to improve.
"The current level of the policy rate is likely to remain appropriate over the near term," Bullard said on Monday.
The producer price index and the consumer price index data due Thursday and Friday, is expected to provide market participants with fresh insight into the pace of inflation.
The slowdown in inflation, has weighed on the prospect of rate hikes later this year, pressuring both the dollar and bond yields while boosting demand for the precious metal.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.