By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Gold has had its shot at $1,300. Now dollar bulls want some time in the sun too.
President Donald Trump's remarks that he looked forward to a "very fruitful meeting" at the G20 next month with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping eased trade war tensions, sending the dollar to its best performance in two weeks.
Gold futures for June delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, settled down $5.50, or 0.4%, at $1,296.30 per ounce.
Spot gold, reflective of trades in bullion, was down $3.28, or 0.3%, at $1,296.56 per ounce by 3:30 PM ET (19:30 GMT).
"Gold is adjusting to the stocks and dollar rebound, but is still within the upper-range bound number close to $1,300," George Gero, precious metals analyst at RBC Capital, said in an email to Investing.com.
Gold broke above $1,300 on Monday, hitting one-month highs, as risk-averse investors took to its safe-haven cover after China imposed higher duties on a range of U.S. goods including frozen vegetables and liquefied natural gas.
The two countries have up to a 25% tariff on each other’s products now, with the U.S. targeting Chinese merchandise worth more than $500 billion and China levying tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods.
Trump's assuring words on China on Tuesday gave hope that a trade deal between Washington and Beijing was still possible.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, settled up 0.2% at 97.322 as investors regained some appetite for the U.S. currency.
Wall Street's Dow, another alternative to gold, enjoyed a triple-digit rebound, finishing up more than 207 points. The index had been up as many as 364 points.
Elsewhere in metals, palladium rose strongly to trade above gold again to hold on to its mantle on Thursday as the world's costliest traded metal.
Spot palladium was up $17.40, or 1.3%, at $1,339.70 an ounce. The silvery-white metal, used for purifying gasoline emissions, traded above $1,600 at one point in early March. On Comex, palladium closed up $16.20, or 1.2%, to $1,333.
Trades in other Comex metals as of 3:35 PM ET (19:35 GMT):
Platinum futures up $3.85, or 0.5%, at $858.75 per ounce.
Silver futures up 2 cents, or 0.1%, at $14.79 per ounce.
Copper futures flat at $2.72 per pound.