Gold futures inch lower, tracking weakness in other metals

Gold prices inched lower on Tuesday, as steep declines in other metal commodities, like copper, platinum and palladium, weighed.

Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange shed $1.30, or 0.12%, to trade at $1,094.90 a troy ounce as of 09:45 GMT, or 4:45AM ET.A day earlier, prices dipped $1.70, or 0.15%. The precious metal rallied to a nine-week high of $1,113.10 on January 8.

Despite recent losses, gold is up more than 3% since the start of the year as safe-haven demand has been boosted amid a global stock market rout, worries over the Chinese economy and heightened geopolitical tensions.

The recent turmoil in global financial markets added to skepticism over the Federal Reserve's ability to raise interest rates as much as it would like this year.

Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery inched down 0.1 cents, or 0.01%, to trade at $13.86 a troy ounce during morning hours in London.

Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures fell to a new six-year low on Tuesday, as investors continued to cut holdings of the red metal amid persistent worries about future demand from top consumer China.

Prices of the red metal are down nearly 8% so far in 2016 as a meltdown on China’s stock market and a rapid depreciation of the yuan rattled investor sentiment.

The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for nearly 45% of world consumption.