WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures closed notably higher on Tuesday, extending gains to a third straight day, as investors continued to pick up the safe-haven asset amid persisting geopolitical tensions due to escalating violence in Syria.
Investors also looked ahead to U.S. inflation data, and the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement due this week.
A stronger dollar limited the yellow metal's upside. The dollar index, which climbed to 106.64, gave up some gains subsequently, but still remained well above the flat line at 106.41.
Gold futures for December closed higher by $32.70 or about 1.23% at $2,697.60 an ounce.
Silver futures for December settled at $32.363 an ounce, gaining $0.147 or about 0.46%, while Copper futures for December were down marginally at $4.2705 per pound.
Israel has deployed troops across the Syrian border for the first time since the official end of the Yom Kippur War in 1974 and conducted airstrikes inside Syria.
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday that the Israel Defense Forces are seeking to gain 'complete control over the buffer zone' and seize weapons and 'terrorist infrastructure,' so they can't be used to target Israel.
While the Labor Department released a report on Tuesday showing the jump by U.S. labor productivity in the third quarter was unrevised from the previous estimate, the report also showed a downward revision to the increase by U.S. unit labor costs.
The report said labor productivity shot up by 2.2 percent in the third quarter, unrevised from the initial estimate and in line with economist estimates.
Small business confidence in the U.S. surged in November to its highest level in more than three years as the uncertainty regarding future economic conditions reduced following the election of Donald Trump as the next president and businesses are now looking forward to favorable tax and regulation policies, results of a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business showed on Tuesday.
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index gained eight points to reach 101.7 in November, which was far higher than the 94.6 reading economists had forecast. The latest score was the highest since June 2021.
The measure thus ended a 34-month streak of remaining below the 50-year average of 98.
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