Gold holds ground below record ahead of Trump’s tariff reveal

The precious metal traded little changed, less than $40 short of its record reached in the previous session. (Courtesy: Bloomberg)

Gold steadied as the market took a break from a record-setting run ahead of US President Donald Trump’s implementation of sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs, which are expected to take effect later Wednesday.

The precious metal traded little changed, less than $40 short of its record reached in the previous session. The White House and Trump have been reticent to provide details of the targets and scale of the levies, which will apply right after they are rolled out at a 4 pm event in Washington.

The pending announcement — which will follow tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, as well as steel and aluminum — has driven a new wave of volatility, including a US stock selloff. While uncertain times are generally good for gold — helping it set more than 15 records this year — investors were holding fire to weigh the impact of the next set of levies on trade, the global economy and geopolitics.

Bullion has been one of the strongest performing commodities this year, rallying 19% in the opening three months to post its best quarter since 1986. The ascent has been fueled by consistent central-bank buying, plus the rising tide of haven demand amid intensifying geopolitical and macro uncertainties.

Spot gold traded at $3,113.74 an ounce as of 8:14 a.m. in Singapore, after peaking at $3,149 on Tuesday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed. Silver and platinum were also steady, while palladium edged higher.