Gold maintains record rally as tariff fears spur demand

(Reuters) - Gold prices rose to touch a new record high on Tuesday, as investors turned to the safe-haven asset ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned announcement of sweeping tariffs on countries that have a trade imbalance with the U.S.

Spot gold was up 0.3% at $3,132.43 per ounce as of 11:07 a.m. ET (1507 GMT), after hitting an all-time high of $3,148.88 earlier in the day.

U.S. gold futures were 0.4% higher at $3,164.20.

"As long as we see weakness in the U.S. equity markets and continued unease about the tariffs and the geopolitical situation, gold will likely continue to push higher," Marex analyst Edward Meir said.

Markets and consumers are waiting for details of Trump's planned tariffs, set to be announced on Wednesday. White House aides have drafted plans for tariffs of around 20% on most U.S. imports, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"It's possible we could see a bit of a retracement tomorrow on the announcement," said Meir, adding that gold is likely to rebound on continued uncertainty around Trump's tariffs.

Gold, traditionally seen as a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainties, closed out its strongest quarter since 1986 on Monday, and climbed over $3,100/ounce, marking one of the most significant upswings in the precious metal's history.

Goldman Sachs ( GS ) raised the probability of a U.S. recession to 35% from 20% on Monday, and said it expected more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Non-yielding bullion thrives in a low-interest-rate environment.

"We continue to see the gold prices moving higher," due in part to increasing gold holdings by physically backed ETFs and robust central bank purchases, said Ryan McIntyre, senior portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management.

On a technical basis, gold's Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands above 70, indicating the metal is overbought.

Job openings fell to 7.568 million by the end of February, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a Tuesday report, compared with economists' expectation of 7.616 million. Investors are also awaiting Friday's non-farm payrolls report for cues on the Fed's rate cut trajectory.

Silver fell 0.3% to $33.97 an ounce, platinum was down 0.5% at $987.30. Palladium gained 0.5% to $987.68.

(Reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru; Editing by David Evans and Vijay Kishore)