Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Wednesday, 20 June 2018. Gold futures settled lower on Wednesday and marked a fresh nadir for 2018 as overall strength in dollar eroded appetite for the precious yellow metal.

August gold retreated by $4.10, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,274.50 an ounce. That was the lowest settlement for a most-active contract since 21 Dec 2017. July silver shed less than 0.1% to $16.309 an ounce, for its lowest settlement since mid-May.

The dollar, as gauged by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the buck against a half-dozen currencies, was down 0.1% Wednesday, but has advanced nearly 1.1% in June. The 10-year Treasury note yield edged up by 2.3 basis points to 2.915%.

A strengthening dollar weighs on commodities pegged to the monetary unit, because it makes those assets more expensive for buyers using other currencies. Rising bond yields can also dull the luster of gold, which offers no yield.

Gains in the greenback have offset demand for gold bullion amid escalating trade tensions between China and the U.S. that should normally lure bidders to the asset typically billed as a haven in times of uncertainty.

On Tuesday, markets experienced a bout of flight-to-safety trading after President Donald Trump asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer late Monday to identify $200 billion more in Chinese products that could be subject to tariffs of 10%, ratcheting up concerns that a trade war may erupt, roiling global economies.

Moreover, the Federal Reserve's plan to raise interest rates twice more in 2018, after lifting benchmark rates by a quarter of a percentage point last week, have helped to underpin some upward momentum in the U.S. dollar and has driven interest rates on benchmark 10-year Treasury note higher.

Reviewing Wednesday's economic data, which included the Existing Home Sales report for May, the Current Account Balance for the first quarter, and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index. Existing home sales decreased 0.4% in May to an annualized rate of 5.43 million units (consensus 5.55 million). The April reading was revised to 5.45 million (from 5.46 million).

Separately, the current account deficit for the first quarter totaled $124.1 billion (consensus -$129.2 billion). The fourth quarter deficit was revised to $116.1 billion from $128.2 billion. The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index rose 5.1% to follow last week's decline of 1.5%.