Gold steadied on Tuesday after touching a one-week low as the dollar rallied on U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of higher tariffs on all imports from China.
Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to discuss the trade dispute when they attend the G20 Summit in Argentina this week.
“If they agree on making some sort of progress on the trade side, that could be quite positive for gold as it would likely weigh on the dollar, which has been the safe-haven currency in this trade debate,” said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.
“But any kind of escalation would likely be negative for gold.”
Spot gold edged 0.1 percent higher to $1,223.56 an ounce by 1242 GMT, having earlier dipped to its lowest since Nov. 19 at $1,219.04. U.S. gold futures were up 0.1 percent at $1,223.80.
Jitters in the equity markets and a slight recovery in oil prices kept a floor on gold prices, said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.
“The equity markets in Europe are not really recovering a lot, therefore gold prices are somewhat supported.”
World stock markets fought to keep a rebound alive after Trump said on Monday that he was “highly unlikely” to accept China’s request to hold off from raising tariffs due to take effect on Jan. 1.
That supported the dollar against a basket of major currencies, with the dollar index reaching its highest in almost two weeks, making gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Gold has fallen about 10 percent since a peak in April as investors bought the dollar on the unfolding U.S.-China trade war and higher U.S. interest rates.
“The big story still is that the U.S. Federal Reserve is going to continue hiking interest rates and that supports the dollar and likewise keeps gold in check,” Menke said.
The Fed has raised rates three times this year and a fourth increase is expected in December, making non-yielding bullion less attractive.
Investors were also looking ahead to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech and minutes from Fed’s Nov. 7-8 meeting, due this week, which could indicate the pace of rate hikes in 2019.
Meanwhile, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.2 percent on Monday while speculators cut their net short positions in gold contracts in the week to Nov. 20.
Among other precious metals, spot silver was up 0.1 percent at $14.24 an ounce, having touched $14.14, its lowest since Nov. 15.
Platinum was up 0.3 percent at $841.90 while palladium eased 0.1 percent to $1,139.80.
