PRECIOUS-Gold prices extend record run on strong safe-haven inflows

By Brijesh Patel

Sept 3 (Reuters) - Gold prices extended their record run on Wednesday, as persistent market uncertainty and growing investor confidence that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this month lifted demand for the safe-haven metal.

Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1% at $3,536.58 per ounce, as of 0645 GMT, after hitting an all-time of $3,546.99 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery gained 0.3% to $3,602.40.

Adding to market uncertainty and potential trade tensions, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said it will ask the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling on tariffs that a U.S. appeals court found illegal last week.

"The Supreme Court decision has seemingly introduced a lot of uncertainty into the market because they could radically change what the macro landscape looks like if these decisions don't go the president's way," said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.

"The attempt at compromising Fed independence to some extent, that's a very big deal as well. The bias for gold is very clearly higher, momentum here seems rather one-sided."

Trump has been exerting relentless pressure on the Fed to cut interest rates and publicly discussed firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Upping this battle, Trump last month attempted to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, setting off a critical legal test over the Fed's ability to function without political interference.

U.S. rate futures are pricing in a 92% chance of a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut at the end of the two-day policy meeting on September 17, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. FEDWATCH

Non-yielding gold typically performs well in a low-interest-rate environment.

SPDR Gold Trust GLD, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 1.32% to 990.56 tons on Tuesday, the highest since August 2022.

Investors are now looking forward to the U.S. non-farm payrolls data, due on Friday, to determine the size of the Fed's potential rate cut later this month.

Elsewhere, spot silver XAG= eased 0.1% to $40.84 per ounce, after hitting its highest point since September 2011 in the previous session. Platinum XPT= fell 0.6% to $1,395.03 and palladium XPD= slipped 0.4% to $1,129.58.

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