Gold tops $3,300 but Nvidia leads tech sell-off in another bout of trade war turmoil on financial markets
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The price of gold has topped $3,300 an ounce for the first time and technology stocks have crumbled in further trade war turmoil.
Bullion rose as high as $3,339 yesterday as a weaker dollar and escalating US-China tensions sent investors rushing to the apparent safety of the precious metal.
The slump in the greenback pushed sterling close to $1.33 for the first time since September even as expectations grow of interest rate cuts in the UK.
Lower rates typically weaken currencies, but the pound has risen sharply against the dollar as fears of a US recession mount.
The fluctuations in the gold price and currencies came as Nvidia led US tech stocks lower after the White House slapped restrictions on the sale of microchips to China. Nvidia shares fell 7 per cent – wiping
billions off its value – after it warned export controls on its H20 chip will cost it more than £4billion.
The chip was designed for the Chinese market, to power AI, though it is not as powerful as those it develops for the US.
Sentiment in the industry took a further dive as a lacklustre update from Dutch chip-making tools giant ASML raised fresh concerns about the outlook.
Shares on Wall Street fell with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 3.1 per cent.
Francois Antomarchi, at Degroof Petercam Asset Management, said: ‘There’s the question of knowing when we hit the bottom, geopolitically speaking, of the trade war, and I’m not sure we’re there yet.’
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