London — Gold edged lower on Wednesday as the dollar gained, but escalating tension over North Korea and upcoming French and UK elections boosted investor demand in the safe-haven asset. Spot gold was down 0.64% at $1,281.96/oz as of 9.32am GMT, but holding near a November high of $1,295.42 touched on Monday. US gold futures were 0.8% lower at $1,283.90. US Vice-President Mike Pence said Washington would work with its allies and China to put economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea but added the US would defeat any attack with an "overwhelming response". "Today’s move is just a bit of a pause because we are still seeing pretty decent investor interest in gold," said ETF Securities analyst Martin Arnold. "Investors are still using gold for insurance and defensive positioning because there are concerns over equity valuations and politics." In France, investors remained nervous ahead of the first round of the country’s presidential election on Sunday, as a closely watched poll s...
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