Gold
prices rose to a seven-year high during Tuesday's trading, with economic
anxiety associated with the impact of Covid-19 on the global economy and amid
the massive liquidity measures taken by global central banks.
As
of 09:08 GMT, spot gold hovered around $1,719.26 an ounce, where the
precious metal touched its highest level since November 2012 at $1,725.10
earlier in the session.
Gold
has benefited from fears of a severe economic downturn on the back of
anti-Covid-19 measures that have infected nearly 2 million people globally so
far.
At
the same time, the financial and monetary measures undertaken by many countries
and central banks to support economies amid the corona outbreak contributed to
the provision of liquidity, reducing the pressure to "sell
everything" for cash.
Fed
incentives to inject liquidity into the US economy affected by the coronavirus
tend to put pressure on the dollar, making buying gold relatively cheaper.
Last
week, the Fed announced a $2.3 trillion stimulus package, while EU finance
ministers agreed to boost the economy by about half trillion euros.
The
outbreak of Coivd-19 has claimed more than 119,700 lives and infected nearly
two million people worldwide, according to calculations by Johns Hopkins
University.
As
for other precious metals, silver advanced by 2.12 percent to $15.87 an ounce,
while the highest level recorded during the session was at $16.08.
Palladium
descended by 0.15 percent to trade at $2,167 an ounce, while platinum went in
the opposite direction by edging up by 5.28 percent at $789.80, recording the
highest level since March 15 at $795.25.
Meanwhile, the dollar
index, which trails the performance of the green currency against six major
currencies, slumped 0.11 percent to trade at 99.23.