Gold expanded losses and fell almost 2% on Thursday after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced a commercial agreement with the United Kingdom, increasing hopes of similar agreements with other countries.
Cash gold yielded 1.9% to $ 3.301.15 an ounce. American gold futures fell 2.5% to $ 3.306.
Trump and British prime minister Keir Starmer announced a “decisive agreement” on trade. A 10% tariff is maintained on imported goods from the United Kingdom, while the United Kingdom agreed to reduce its 1.8% tariffs from 5.1% and provide greater access to US goods.
“If an agreement between the United States and China is reached, there will be a lot of upward resistance and gold should go back at least $ 3,200,” said Bob Haberkorn, Rjo Futures Market Strata.
The Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besent, and the United States trade representative, Jamieson Greer, will meet with China’s most economic head on Saturday in Switzerland.
The ingot, widely considered as a coverage against geopolitical uncertainty, had reached multiple historical maximums since Trump first announced his tariffs.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of China approved the purchases of foreign exchange by commercial banks to pay gold imports under recent installments, two people said with direct knowledge of the matter.
“In theory, this measure should boost gold prices, since the increase in China’s demand becomes a factor. However, current market dynamics are dominated by events around tariffs,” said Zain Vawda, Marketpulse by Oanda analyst.
Gold reserves in the warehouses of the London Metal Stock Exchange increased in April, due to a greater return of the precious metal from New York. Market operators had increased gold deliveries to the United States in the December-March period to cover their positions in Comex due to the possibility that the United States imposed import tariffs.
Upward copper
Copper prices rose after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said that he hoped that the import tariffs of Chinese products were reduced, reversing the previous losses caused by the firmness of the dollar.
The reference copper in the London Metal Bag (LME) rose 0.2% to $ 9,439 the metric ton.
The operators said that Donald Trump’s comments increased the hopes of relieving tensions between the United States and China, the main world consumer of industrial metals.
They also helped boost copper prices that were in turn supported by the fall in inventories.
Gold, considered as coverage against uncertainty, had reached multiple historical maximums since Trump announced his tariffs.