Gold at over 6-year peak as trade war escalation sparks safe-haven rush

Gold prices scaled a fresh six-year high on Monday, as the latest tit-for-tat tariffs by the United States and China in their year-long trade war battered global equities and boosted demand for safe-haven assets.

Spot gold jumped 0.9 percent to $1,539.70 per ounce as of 0414 GMT, having earlier touched $1,554.56 an ounce, its highest since April 2013.

U.S. gold futures were up 0.8 percent at $1,549.50 an ounce.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 5 percent additional duty on $550 billion in targeted Chinese goods, hours after Beijing unveiled retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. products.

"Gold was the beneficiary of President Trump's tweetstorm on Friday," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at VM Markets.

Equity markets plunged in response, with the U.S. stocks plunging on Friday, and the Asian ones following on Monday.

Traders were also tracking the Group of Seven summit, where Trump indicated he may have had second thoughts on the tariffs.

Later, the White House clarified that Trump wished he had raised tariffs on Chinese goods even higher last week.