July 23 (Reuters) - Gold rose to its highest in nearly nine
years on Thursday, driven by an escalation in U.S.-China
tensions, while expectation of more stimulus measures lifted the
metal's appeal as an inflation-hedge.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1% at $1,872.75 per ounce by
0048 GMT, after hitting its highest since September 2011 at
$1,876.16 in early Asian trade.
* U.S. gold futures GCv1 rose 0.2% to $1,869.30.
* The United States gave China 72 hours to close its
consulate in Houston amid accusations of spying, marking a
dramatic deterioration in relations between the world's two
biggest economies. * Coronavirus cases continued to surge in the United States,
with California officially becoming the worst-hit state,
exceeding New York, with more than 414,000 cases of COVID-19.
* Leading U.S. Senate Republicans and the White House late
on Wednesday said they had hammered out agreements in principle
on portions of a potential coronavirus-response bill, which
could be presented to Democrats as early as this week.
* Gold is often used as a safe store of value during times
of political and financial uncertainty.
* Indicative of sentiment, SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the
world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its
holdings rose 0.4% to 1,225.01 tonnes on Wednesday from 1,219.75
tonnes on Tuesday. GOL/ETF
* Further helping gold, the dollar index .DXY held near a
more than four-month low that it hit in the previous session.
USD/
* Asian stocks were likely to come under pressure on
Thursday as fresh diplomatic tensions between Washington and
Beijing heightened investor jitters. MKTS/GLOB
* Silver XAG= fell 0.7% to $22.86 per ounce, platinum
XPT= dropped 0.7% to $912.79, while palladium XPD= climbed
0.6% to $2,160.91.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0645 France Business Climate Mfg July
1230 US Initial Jobless Claims Weekly
1400 EU Consumer Confid. Flash July