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Gold hit a record high of $4,059.05 on Wednesday

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Silver hovers below record high of $51.22/oz hit on

Thursday

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Platinum posts weekly loss, palladium sees weekly gain

(Updates for US market close)

By Anushree Mukherjee and Anmol Choubey

Oct 10 (Reuters) -

Gold pared some gains on Friday after briefly rallying above

the $4,000 an ounce milestone for a second time this week as

U.S. President Donald Trump's warning of possible fresh tariffs

on China accelerated a flight to safe-haven assets.

Spot gold was up 0.4% at $3,989.49 per ounce as of

1:40 p.m. ET (1740 GMT). The metal logged a 2.7% gain this week.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled 0.7%

higher at $4,000.40.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday there is no

reason to meet with China's President Xi Jinping in two weeks in

South Korea as planned. The U.S. is calculating a massive

increase in tariffs on Chinese imports, he said in a Truth

Social post.

Following the news, gold briefly topped the $4,000/oz

milestone, climbing to a session high of $4,022.52.

"Heating up the trade war again will tank the dollar and

be good for safe-havens," said Tai Wong, an independent metals

trader.

The U.S. dollar fell 0.5%, making

greenback-priced bullion cheaper for overseas buyers.

Markets are also closely monitoring the risks related to the

potential collapse of the French government and the ongoing

government shutdown in the United States.

Besides, investors are anticipating the U.S. Federal Reserve

to cut interest rates by 25 basis points each in October and

December.

Non-yielding bullion, which hit a record high of $4,059.05

on Wednesday, is traditionally considered a hedge during times

of broader uncertainty.

Geopolitical risks, alongside strong central bank

gold-buying, exchange-traded funds inflows, U.S. rate cut

expectations and economic uncertainties stemming from tariffs,

have all contributed to gold's rally.

"On balance, there is a risk of a short-term pullback in

prices given how quickly gold prices have risen in recent weeks.

But over the next couple years, gold prices are likely to grind

higher," Hamad Hussain, climate and commodities economist at

Capital Economics, said.

Silver is also benefiting from the same factors driving

gold's rally, alongside concerns about supply deficit and rising

demand for the metal.

Silver rose 2.1% to $50.13 per ounce, a day after

touching a record high of $51.22. It has gained more than 73% so

far this year.

Silver futures on Comex for December 2025 were

trading at $47.32.

"Silver's backwardation is a loud signal - physical demand

is crushing paper supply... If backwardation holds and physical

demand keeps rising, silver breaking and sustaining above $50 is

very realistic," said Alex Ebkarian, COO at Allegiance Gold.

Backwardation is when a commodity's spot price is higher

than its futures price.

Among other metals, platinum was down 1.4% at

$1,596.55 and logged a weekly loss, while palladium eased

0.3% to $1,406.87, posting a more than 12.6% weekly rise.