RIYADH: Gold prices notched a four-week high on Tuesday and extended their winning streak to a fifth session, as a dip in the US dollar and Treasury yields boosted demand for the metal amid heightened worries over a global economic slowdown.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,774.38 per ounce, as of 0402 GMT, after hitting its highest since July 5 at $1,780.39 earlier in the session.
US gold futures gained 0.2 percent to $1,790.80 per ounce.
Silver falls
Spot silver fell 0.6 percent to $20.22 per ounce, while platinum was up 0.2 percent at $907.98.
Palladium rose 0.3 percent to $2,199.67.
Grains down
Chicago soybean futures lost more ground on Tuesday, with prices dropping to their lowest in almost one week after a US government report showed slight improvement in crop condition.
Wheat and corn gave up more than 1 percent as Ukraine resumed maritime grain exports, raising hopes for higher world supplies.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.5 percent at $13.99 a bushel, as of 0325 GMT, with the market trading close to its weakest since July 27.
Wheat fell 1.5 percent to $7.88-1/2 a bushel and corn gave up 1.1 percent to $6.03-1/4 a bushel.
Industrial metal prices down
Industrial metals prices fell on Tuesday, as traders and investors sold risky assets amid escalating China-US tensions on news that a high-profile US politician was expected to visit Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was expected to arrive in Taiwan later in the day, as several Chinese warplanes flew close to the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, sources said.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 1.3 percent to $7,718.50 a ton by 0406 GMT, and the most-traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 2 percent to $8,783.25 a ton.
LME tin dropped 2.6 percent to $24,250 a ton, lead fell 0.4 percent to $2,045 a ton, zinc eased 0.4 percent to $3,315 a ton, while aluminum dipped 0.3 percent to $2,424 a ton.
Shareholder buy-in for Yamana takeover is still progressing: Gold Fields CEO
Gold Fields CEO Chris Griffith said on Tuesday that convincing the company’s shareholders to back its takeover offer for Canada’s Yamana Gold was still a “work in progress.”
The South Africa-listed miner, with assets in Australia, Africa and South America, announced plans in May to acquire Yamana in an all-share deal valuing the Canada-listed miner at $6.7 billion on May 31.
“We are trying to get them to see the massive upside that exists in this deal. So work in progress is probably the best way to describe it,” he said when asked if investors and shareholders were on board with the deal.
Gold Fields shareholders will vote on the deal in the second week of October.
Griffith said the company has held a couple of road shows in recent weeks to “educate” shareholders.
(With input from Reuters)
