Investing.com – Gold prices jumped to a more than two-week high as signs of rising U.S. inflation were overshadowed by an uptick in safe-haven demand amid growing U.S.-Russia tensions.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by $16.20, or 1.20%, to $1,362.10 a troy ounce, and remained close to session highs of $1,369.10.
Risk-off sentiment gripped markets on Wednesday after President Donald Trump threatened Russia, in a series of tweets, hinting at military action in Syria.
This comes after Trump, told reporters earlier this week, that he was preparing a response to reports of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria. “We have a lot of options, militarily. And we'll be letting you know pretty soon," Trump said.
Renewed demand for safe-haven buying comes as traders digested an uptick in inflation, which failed to provide a large enough bounce in the dollar to dent gold prices.
The core CPI rose 2.1% year-on-year in March, the largest since February 2017, improving on the 1.8% rise seen in February.
Dollar-denominated assets such as gold are sensitive to moves in the dollar – A fall in the dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of foreign currency, raising demand for the precious metal.
Investors were also awaiting the Federal Reserve’s March meeting minutes due 2.00 pm ET, for an insight into the Fed’s thinking on monetary policy.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures rose 1.35% to $16.79 a troy ounce, while platinum futures gained 0.30% to $935.90 an ounce.
Copper fell 0.80% to $3.11.