Gold prices rose about 1% in Wednesday's trading session, as investors poured into safe-haven metals during Asian trading hours, amid markets assessing uncertainties surrounding US tax policies after the Supreme Court's ruling rejected a series of measures by President Donald Trump.
Spot gold prices rose 0.8% to 5.191.20 USD/ounce in this afternoon's trading session. US gold futures for April delivery also rose 0.6% to 5,205 USD/ounce.
The return of the Chinese market, along with increased policy uncertainty in the US, is maintaining the attractiveness of gold and to some extent silver," said Kyle Rodda, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
The US has begun to collect a temporary global import tax of 10% from Tuesday, but Washington is trying to raise it to 15%, according to a White House official. This development has increased the turmoil surrounding Mr. Trump's tax policy, after he suffered a defeat in the Supreme Court last week.
Meanwhile, two US Federal Reserve officials signaled that they have no intention of changing the central bank's interest rate policy stance soon. According to CME's FedWatch tool, the market still expects the Fed to have three interest rate cuts this year, each of 25 basis points.
Gold prices still have a lot of room to increase, especially if factors pushing prices up such as US fiscal, trade and foreign policy continue to last" - Mr. Rodda added.
In his State of the Union address to the US Congress on Tuesday evening, Mr. Trump briefly mentioned the possibility of launching an attack on Iran, emphasizing that he would not allow this country to possess nuclear weapons.
On other precious metals markets, spot silver prices rose 3.4% to $90.32/ounce, the highest level in three weeks. Platinum prices rose sharply 4.7% to $2,269.82/ounce, the highest since February 4, while palladium rose 1.9%, reaching a three-week high of $1,801.47/ounce.
