The start of higher tariffs on $US200 billion of Chinese imports left gold and metals markets all but unmoved on Friday and last week.
Comex gold futures settled higher for a second straight session on Friday in New York, helping prices to post a small weekly gain of half a percent.
While there was some safe-haven buying of gold last week, it failed to move prices by very much and talk of a surge past $US1,300 an ounce failed to eventuate.
Gold for June delivery rose $US2.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $US1,287.40 an ounce. Gold did record its fifth gain in six sessions, according to FactSet data and the half a percent rise was only the second weekly rise in the past seven weeks.
Comex July silver added 0.1% to $US14.79 an ounce, for a weekly loss of 1.3%. July copper rose 0.1% to $US2.775 a pound, down 1.6% for the week.
Palladium was a standout on Friday with the current June month contract seeing a 5.3% surge on Friday, to settle at $US1,350.70 an ounce. But that was not enough to produce a weekly gain and the metal ended with a dip of half a percent, like gold.
July platinum also rose by 1.7% to $865.60 an ounce Friday but saw a weekly loss of 1.1%.
Oil was mixed on Friday, with the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate dipping on worries over the escalating trade row between Washington and Beijing.
West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery fell 4 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $US61.66 a barrel on Friday afternoon in New York. The contract lost 0.5% for the week, marking its third straight weekly decline.
That was despite Chinese trade data for April showing a record level of imports for the month of April and the first four months of 2019.
In Europe the global benchmark July Brent crude rose 23 cents, or 0.3%, to end at $US70.62 and leaving it the week, ending 0.3% lower over the week.
The higher tariffs on $US200 billion of Chinese imports had no impact, nor did a day of fruitless talks in Washington on Friday.
Baker Hughes said on Friday there was another weekly fall in the number of active oil rigs in use across the US.
The fall was small – just 2 to 805. That followed an increase of 2 oil rigs the previous week. The total active U.S. rig count, meanwhile, also fell by 2 to 988.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA)last week cut its 2019 world oil demand growth forecast by 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.38 million bpd.
The EIA said it expects US US crude oil production to average 12.45 million bpd this year, up from the current 12.3 million bpd, which is already a record.
For 2020, the EIA forecast US output will average 13.38 million bpd.
