WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Despite uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates, gold prices climbed higher on Tuesday as persisting geopolitical tensions lifted the commodity's safe-haven appeal. A weak dollar contributed as well to the rise in gold prices.
While CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently still indicating 56.3% chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point in June, that is down from 63.8% a week ago.
The dollar index dropped to 104.68 before recovering to 104.80, still down more than 0.2% from the previous close.
Gold futures for June ended higher by $24.70 at $2,281.80 an ounce, gaining for the sixth consecutive session.
Silver futures for May ended higher by $0.850 at $25.923 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.0705 per pound, gaining $0.0220.
The tension in the Middle East escalated following an incident in which a top Iranian military commander and several diplomats were killed in a reported Israeli airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus.
Iran has vowed to retaliate, raising the risk of a wider Middle Eastern conflict.
In U.S. economic news today, the Commerce Department released a report showing a significant rebound in factory orders in the month of February.
The Commerce Department said factory orders surged by 1.4% in February after plunging by a revised 3.8% in January.
Economists had expected factory orders to jump by 1% compared to the 3.6% slump originally reported for the previous month.
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