Gold closes slightly higher as US-China trade war escalates

Gold prices rose slightly during today's trading as the dollar stabilized, in addition to the escalation in the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, prompting investors towards the precious metal as a safe haven.

This comes after Google's decision to ban select dealings with Huawei, including stopping the availability of the Android operating system on computers and tablets manufactured by the Chinese company.

Google revealed that this decision complies with the ban imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump on US companies from dealing with Huawei and its technologies to its risks to the national security of the USA.

Separately, the dollar index (against a number of major currencies) stabilized at 97.9 points as of 18:12 GMT, hitting a high of 98.04 and a low of 97.8.

To the end of the session, Gold futures (June delivery) rose 0.1% to close at $1277.3 an ounce, with the metal hitting a high of $1278.8 and a low of $1273.3.