Precious-Gold rose on Tuesday trading amid escalating geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with investors keeping their eyes on the coming Fed meeting. Russian forces strengthened their grip over Crimea, while mentioned it is drafting counterproposals to a U.S. plan for a key solution to the Ukraine conflict. The East-west tensions are creating some sort of haven demand to the metal to offset some of the downside pressure that spread after the better than forecast U.S. nonfarm payrolls data. On the other hand, worries from China slowdown after the unexpected in exports in February have lowered some physical demand on the metal. American employers added 175,000 jobs last month, higher than forecast of 149,000, while January’s reading was revised up to 129,000 from 113,000. The upbeat labor market data gave a boost to the dollar on expectations the Fed will continue the pace of stimulus reduction by slashing another $10 billion this month to $55 billion. Investors will keep their attention on U.S. data as they aim to gather clues about the Fed’s pace of stimulus taper, where the focus would be on the Fed’s March 18-19 meeting. The yellow metal is currently moving in a narrow range, as investors are holding their buy or sell decision until the Fed’s coming meeting. Meanwhile, the yellow metal is trading around $1345.35 an ounce after hitting a high of $1347.72 and a low of $1337.73. The U.S. dollar ticked up against a basket of major currencies to hover around 79.81 after opening at 79.76, according to the dollar index. Crude oil for April’s delivery slumped to $101.35 a barrel, after touching a high of $101.40.

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