Gold Held, Focus Shifts to Geneva & US Tariffs
Gold prices moved relatively stable on Thursday (February 26th), supported by safe-haven demand amid market anxiety regarding the direction of US tariff policy, while nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran were underway in Geneva, Switzerland.
At 8:55 a.m. US time (13:55 GMT), spot gold edged up 0.1% to $5,171.27 per ounce, while US gold futures fell 0.8% to $5,186.66 per ounce.
Market participants are monitoring diplomatic developments as US and Iranian delegations continue negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program. The market believes any indication of a stalemate or escalation in tensions could rekindle hedging interest, potentially boosting gold.
On the trade policy front, investors are still assessing the impact of US tariffs following the Supreme Court ruling that changed the legal basis for several trade policies. The imposition of new global levies of up to 15% has prolonged uncertainty over the trade outlook, maintaining defensive sentiment, and making markets highly sensitive to further headlines from the White House.
Meanwhile, the latest economic data showed that US initial jobless claims rose slightly by 4,000 to 212,000 for the week ending February 21. This figure does not change the overall picture, but remains an important input for the market in assessing future monetary policy stance.
Gold has remained solid throughout the year due to a combination of geopolitical tensions, central bank buying, and portfolio diversification flows. ING believes gold has recovered more than half of the losses incurred during the sharp sell-off at the end of last month, while emphasizing that geopolitical risk remains a key upside factor—especially if tensions involving Iran escalate.
On the other hand, Deutsche Bank believes the Supreme Court ruling invalidating Trump's "reciprocal" tariff scheme is likely positive for gold, but the impact is marginal. This is because the US government can still pursue alternative legal avenues—including Section 122—which would allow for the temporary imposition of levies, so tariff uncertainty has not completely dissipated.
For other metals, movements tended to be corrective following the previous rally. Silver fell about 4% to $87.315 per ounce, while platinum weakened about 2.1% to $2,282.95 per ounce after surging sharply in the previous session.
Source: Newsmaker.id
