Gold little changed on trade caution; markets await Fed policy meeting

GOLD was steady on Monday as investors await cues from the US Federal Reserve on interest rates later this week, while trying to size up the chances of a new round of US tariffs on Chinese goods.

Spot gold was flat at $1,460 per ounce by 0500 GMT. US gold futures was flat at $1,464.50.

The US Fed will meet on Dec. 10–12 for an interest rate decision and investors were likely to focus on the outlook for next year and beyond. Strong US jobs data last week have renewed bets that the Federal Reserve would stand pat on interest rates. Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Meanwhile, the Dec. 15 deadline is still in place for a new round of US tariffs on about $156 billion worth of Chinese imports, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday last week.

“Markets are waiting to size up what happens, they’re waiting both for the US Federal Reserve meeting and some sort of last minute deal (between US-China),” said Ilya Spivak, a senior currency strategist at DailyFx.

“We’ve seen that from this administration in White House, this kind of brinkmanship where they may decide to cancel tariffs at the last second by a tweet late night on Dec. 14.”

Gold has gained more than 13% so far this year after the Fed cut rates three times this year on the backdrop of the US-China trade war and its impact on economy.

“If the tariffs go into effect into the weekend… gold then looks decidedly cheap and we might see an upside breakout,” Mr. Spivak said.

However, limiting gold’s gains, data showed growth in China’s imports. This follows solid US job growth in November, on which gold prices shed one percent on Friday, registering their biggest daily percentage fall in a month.

“Prices are likely to remain in pressure with better-thanexpected data we saw late last week,” ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.

Speculators upped their bullish positions in COMEX gold in the week to Dec. 3, data showed.

However, holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust, fell 0.26% to their lowest since Sept. 19 on Friday.

Palladium shed 0.1% to $1,876.78 per ounce, having hit a record peak at $1,880.65 in the previous session.

Silver rose 0.1% to $16.57 per ounce, after touching its lowest since early August in the last session, while platinum eased 0.4% to $892.30. —