2021.10.1218:27:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Modestly Higher

Gold prices climbed higher on Tuesday, snapping a three-day losing streak, as a downward revision in global growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund pushed up the demand for the safe haven asset a bit.

Concerns about inflation, pressures on quarterly earnings and China Evergrande Group's debt crisis also hit risk appetite and helped gold's cause.

However, a firm dollar limited gold's uptick. The dollar index climbed to 94.56, gaining nearly 0.3%.

Gold futures for December ended up by $3.60 or about 0.2% at $1,759.30 an ounce, the highest settlement since October 6.

Silver futures for December ended down by $0.151 at $22.514 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.3255 per pound, down $0.0410 from the previous close.

Risk sentiment in wider financial markets was subdued amid the Evergrande contagion worries after the company reportedly missed paying all of its offshore bondholders by Monday deadline.

In addition, rivals Modern Land and Sinic are attempting to delay bond payment deadlines in the latest sign of an escalating debt crisis.

Traders looked ahead to earnings announcements from top U.S. banks, and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September 21-22 policy meeting.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said the global economic recovery is continuing, but the momentum has weakened due the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered by the Delta variant.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the global lender retained its 4.9% global growth projection for next year, while it lowered the forecast for this year to 5.9% from 6% predicted in July.

The IMF attributed the downward revision for this year to a downgrade for advanced economies, partly due to supply disruptions, and for low-income developing countries, largely due to worsening pandemic dynamics.