Gold prices slipped on Tuesday as risk sentiment was lifted by easing coronavirus restrictions, while brewing tensions between the United States and China over the outbreak kept the safe-haven metal near the key $1,700 per ounce level.

 

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,699.56 per ounce by 0133 GMT. U.S. gold futures GCv1 were down 0.5% to $1,705.50 per ounce.

* A late Wall Street rally helped Asian stocks trade higher after tech shares and oil rose on easing coronavirus restrictions and prospects of an economic recovery, overcoming concerns about renewed Sino-U.S. trade tensions. 

* Italy and the United States were among a slew of countries tentatively easing coronavirus lockdowns on Monday to revive economies as global deaths surpassed a quarter of a million. 

* The Trump administration is "turbocharging" an initiative to remove global industrial supply chains from China as it weighs new tariffs to punish Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to officials familiar with U.S. planning. 

* An internal Chinese report warns that Beijing faces a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into confrontation, people familiar with the paper told Reuters.

* New orders for U.S.-made goods suffered a record decline in March and could sink further as disruptions from the novel coronavirus fracture supply chains and depress exports.  

Big central banks are buying from an expanding menu of government bonds, corporate debt and consumer loans to help businesses and households through the pandemic -- and no one knows whether they can stop. 

* Two of the world's biggest gold refiners, Valcambi and Argor-Heraeus, are restoring almost all operations after Switzerland relaxed lockdown measures, they said on Monday. 

* SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.4% to 1,071.71 tonnes on Monday from 1,067.90 tonnes on Friday. 

* Palladium gained 0.5% to $1,857.50 per ounce.

* Platinum slipped 0.1% to $764.91 an ounce, while silver fell 0.2% to $14.81 per ounce.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0830 UK Reserve Assets Total April 1230 U.S. International Trade March 1345 U.S. Markit Comp, Svcs Final PMIs April 1400 U.S. ISM N-Mfg PMI April

(Reporting by Shreyansi Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) ((Shreyansi.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8061823666/3590 (If within U.S. call +1 646 223 8780); Reuters Messaging: Shreyansi.Singh@thomsonreuters.com))