Gold rises as hopes for US-Iran diplomacy pause oil rally

Gold prices rose on Tuesday as investors weighed diplomatic efforts to ease the US-Iran conflict, which could temper oil-driven inflation risks and influence the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate path. Spot gold rose 0.9% to $4,042.69 per ounce as of 0345 GMT. US gold futures for August delivery were up 0.8% at $4,047.40. “It looks like gold is trying to find a base somewhere around this ($4,000) level and is going to try to re-engage the upside from there,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive. “These headlines from the Middle East seem to have some degree of knock on, though it is increasingly only being payed attention to in a passing kind of way.” Oil prices softened on Tuesday, with markets weighing reports of mediation efforts between the US and Iran against an exchange of fresh attacks between the two and threats of a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthis.