Gold Hits Nine-And-A-Half-Month High After North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan

Bengaluru: The price of gold rose to its highest in nine and a half months on Tuesday as mounting geopolitical tensions over North Korea's launch of a missile that flew over Japan stoked demand for safe-haven assets, while weighing heavily on the dollar and equities. Spot gold rose 0.5 per cent to $1,316.66 an ounce by 0048 GMT (6:18 am in India), after earlier touching its highest since early November at $1,322.33. It gained 1.4 per cent in the previous session. US gold futures for December delivery were up 0.5 per cent at $1,322.20 per ounce.

US stock futures and Asian share markets tumbled on Tuesday, while the yen jumped to four-month highs against the dollar after North Korea's missile flew over northern Japan, setting up a tense start to trading for markets in the region.

South Korea and Japan said the missile North Korea launched early on Tuesday landed in Pacific waters east of Hokkaido after flying over the northern Japanese island, in a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he hoped a government shutdown would not be necessary over his demand that the US Congress fund his proposed wall along the southern border with Mexico.

The US goods trade deficit increased in July as exports fell, suggesting that trade would make a modest contribution to economic growth in the third quarter.

The European Union's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Monday he was concerned at the slow progress of Brexit talks, while his British counterpart David Davis called for "imagination and flexibility" to move on.

As bond markets brace for an end to ECB stimulus, reinvesting funds from maturing bonds the bank holds could prevent the kind of "taper tantrum" that sent yields soaring in 2013 after the Federal Reserve signalled an end to its bond-buying scheme.

Gasoline prices surged to two-year highs on Monday as Tropical Storm Harvey knocked out several refineries and disrupted fuel production, while a back up in crude supplies pushed US crude oil futures down more than 2.5 per cent. 

The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) launched the world's first diamond futures contracts on Monday to provide exporters with a hedging tool.