Sawt Falasteen - Gold futures hit record on US tariff shock; mixed day for stocks

Wall Street enjoyed a sunny Friday led by the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which posted a second straight record, part of a buoyant session in New York amid optimism over artificial intelligence and less uncertainty over trade policy.

Investors are growing confident that President Donald Trump's constantly-changing US trade policy won't derail the surge in investment around artificial intelligence.

"Part of the relief was that the tariffs on a very important sector around the US outlook on earnings, which is tech and AI, is mostly left unaffected," said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment strategist at Edward Jones.

Apple, which pledged increased US investment at a White House meeting this week, won 4.2 percent, its third straight significant gains. Nvidia and Google parent Alphabet also advanced.

Gold futures shot to a new all-time intraday high at $3,534.10 an ounce after the Financial Times reported that Washington had classified one-kilo bars, the most traded type of bullion on Comex -- the world's biggest futures market, as subject to "reciprocal" tariff rates.

One-kilo bars make up the largest part of Switzerland's gold shipments to the United States. Imports from Switzerland face a 39-percent reciprocal tariff from Thursday. The FT said 100-ounce bars would also face the levy.

The levy caused "shock and confusion" in markets, said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Nemo.money trading group.

After hitting the high, the gold future price later pulled back to around $3,454 an ounce.

A White House official told AFP that the Trump administration plans to "issue an executive order in the near future clarifying misinformation about the tariffing of gold bars and other specialty products."

In European trading, both London's FTSE 100 and Frankfurt dipped, while Paris stocks edged higher.

Japanese stocks led the way on a mostly negative day for Asian markets, fueled by relief that Tokyo and Washington had settled a tariff issue that raised concerns about their trade deal.

"Since the tariff agreement between the US and the European Union, some clarity has emerged, but confusion around its implementation is just beginning to surface," said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

"In Japan, there is relief today upon hearing that the various tariffs will not be cumulative," he added.

The Nikkei 225 stocks index jumped nearly two percent after Japan's tariffs envoy said Washington was expected to revise an executive order that stacked tariffs on top of each other.

"However, it remains unclear whether the same rules apply for Japan and the EU," Stanzl added.

- Key figures at around 2030 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,175.61 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 6,389.45 (close)

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 21,450.02 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,095.73 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,743.00 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 24,162.86 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.9 percent at 41,820.48 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 24,858.82 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,635.13 (close)

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3451 from $1.3444 on Thursday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1643 from $1.1666

Dollar/yen: UP at 147.79 yen from 147.14 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.54 pence from 86.77 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $66.59 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $63.88 per barrel

burs-jmb/sla

R.Shaban--SF-PST