Gold prices reach all-time high while US stocks dip ahead of Trump's tariffs

Gold prices surpassed the $2,800 mark for the first time on Friday as investors moved to the safe haven asset ahead of US President Donald Trump's impending tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada this weekend.

Spot gold reached a new high of $2,814.62 per ounce, according to gold.org data.

On Friday, US stock market declined, with key indexes Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 down by 0.5 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index declining 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the US dollar strengthened with the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rising 0.31 percent to 108.42.

Oil prices also climbed, with the US West Texas Intermediate crude advancing to $73.48 per barrel in late trading, up 1 percent while Brent crude futures for April rose 0.7 percent to $76.54 a barrel in extended trading. This came after the Trump administration said it would decrease proposed tariffs on Canadian oil.

Economists have warned tariffs would raise the cost of imported materials used by US manufacturers, hike prices for American consumers and reduce global trade flows, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. Despite such concerns, Trump maintained in the Oval Office on Friday that "tariffs don't cause inflation."

(With input from Reuters)