Gold Slips From Record High As Dollar Rises

(RTTNews) - Gold edged lower on Friday after setting a new peak above $4,950 an ounce earlier in the day, driven by geopolitical tensions and lingering uncertainty about U.S. policy. Spot gold dipped half a percent to $4,909.51 an ounce after notching a new record high of $4,967.48 earlier. U.S. gold futures were little changed at $4,911.41.

Iran tensions returned to the fore after U.S. President Donald Trump said a U.S. naval "armada" was heading toward the Gulf and that the U.S. is closely watching protests, military signals, and rising tensions in the Middle East.

China called for dialogue and said it hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue.

Elsewhere, representatives of the Unites States, Russia and Ukraine are meeting in Dhabi today and tomorrow for unprecedented talks since war began in February 2022.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said the trilateral talks taking place in the UAE will focus on the status of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

"The Donbas issue is key. It will be discussed as will be the modality of how the three sides see it," he told journalists via a voice message.

The U.S. dollar edged up slightly but was on track for its steepest weekly fall since June after reports emerged that big Northern European investors are expressing increasing caution regarding the risks associated with holding U.S. assets in the face of geopolitical tensions, the unpredictability of Trump and concerns over Federal Reserve independence.

On Thursday, U.S. investment and financial services company Goldman Sachs raised its end-2026 target to $5,400 an ounce, saying private sector diversification into gold has started to realize.