Gold was on its way to its biggest weekly gain in more than three years on Friday as it held above $1,500 U.S. an ounce as heightened trade tensions between Washington and Beijing refused to abate.
Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,502.57 U.S. per ounce early Friday morning, after it surpassed $1,500 for the first since April 2013 earlier this week.
Bullion has risen 4.3% so far this week, and about 17% for the year, gaining more than $100 in the past week.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,514.30 an ounce.
The central banks of New Zealand, Thailand and India stunned markets with a series of interest rate cuts, pointing to policymakers’ admissiong of weakness in fighting a downturn.
Lower interest rates tends to boost gold as it reduces the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and weighs on the U.S. dollar.
Elsewhere, silver rose 0.7% to $17.01 U.S. per ounce and eyed a weekly gain of nearly 5%. Platinum gained 0.2% to $862.30, while palladium climbed 0.5% to $1,428.03 an ounce.
