Gold futures soar as US dollar slips amid trade woes

Gold bars

Gold prices gained ground today, March 5, amid growing global uncertainty about US President Donald Trump’s trade policy agenda, which boosted safe-haven demand.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pointed to the possibility of reaching a trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico to ease the imposed tariffs.

April gold futures rose 0.23%, or $6.70, to $2,927.30 per ounce at 10:14 am Makkah time, while spot prices fell slightly by 0.1% to $2,915.30 apiece.

In addition, May silver futures advanced by 1.17% to $32.76 per ounce, with platinum spot prices also up 0.86% to trade at $971.39 an ounce.

This came as the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, shed 0.27% to 105.45 points.

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said yesterday that US tariffs may push inflation higher. However, he believes that the current interest rate policy is appropriate and does not require any tweaks, Reuters reported.

All eyes are on the release of ADP data on US private sector jobs later today, with the monthly non-farm payrolls report also due next Friday, which is expected to show the addition of 156,000 jobs in February. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is projected to rise to 6.7%.