LONDON: Gold prices were just shy of a record peak and oil prices leveled off on Tuesday after a surge over the past week, as investors sought safety amid geopolitical risks and looked ahead to Nvidia earnings and US inflation data later this week.

In New York, the main indexes were all slightly lower in early trading, while at mid-afternoon in London the FTSE 100 and Frankfurt’s DAX were up slightly, with Paris’s CAC 40 little changed. Oil prices gave up some of their recent gains, and the dollar remained under pressure from expectations of narrowing interest rate differentials. The markets are seeking “more clarity from US economic data about the amount that the Fed may be prepared to ease in September and in the coming months,” Jane Foley, head of foreign exchange strategy at Rabobank London, told AFP.

After US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell sent stock markets soaring and the dollar plunging Friday when he signaled that a rate cut was coming, attention this week has turned to how deep the cut could be. US second-quarter economic growth figures are due Thursday, followed by the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation on Friday and jobs data next week. Investors will pore over the figures for clues about the size of the promised rate reduction, which the Fed is expected to deliver at its next meeting on Sept 17-18.

Traders are also eagerly awaiting the latest earnings results from chip titan Nvidia, which will be released Wednesday and could provide more clues about demand for the hardware powering the AI boom. Patrick O’Hare, an analyst at Briefing.com, said the market could be “stuck in a rut” until the Nvidia results. — Agencies

European stocks were broadly flat, following a late rally in Japan’s Nikkei index. Global stock indexes were little changed overall, with forecast-beating profit from the world’s biggest listed miner BHP helping to prop up sentiment. Gold hovered above $2,500 per ounce on expectations of imminent US rate cuts and lingering concerns about the Middle East conflict, exacerbated by a major missile exchange between Israel and Hezbollah on Sunday.

Middle East tensions - along with concerns about a potential shutdown of Libyan oil fields - had led to a surge in oil prices of more than 7 percent over the previous three sessions. However, that rally lost steam on Tuesday, with a slight dip in prices.

The dollar index was just off a one-year low at 100.83, while the euro and pound nudged towards multi-month highs versus the greenback. A key measure of US inflation due on Friday could further influence market perceptions of how quickly the Fed will act. — Agencies