Gold rebounds as trade deal hopes fade, palladium hits record

[BENGALURU] Gold gained on Monday as optimism over a potential US-China trade deal waned, while palladium notched an all-time high driven by short supplies of the auto-catalyst metal.

Spot gold was up 0.3 per cent at US$1,493.33 per ounce at 1.41pm EDT (1741 GMT), after touching nearly a two-week low of US$1,473.90 in the previous session.

US gold futures settled 0.6 per cent higher at US$1,497.6 an ounce.

"Reassessment - which is why gold is seeing a little fluctuation below 1,500, it's a reassessment of the Chinese trade deal, the Brexit and of what the US Federal Reserve may or may not do going forward," said George Gero, managing director at RBC Wealth Management.

"The dollar index is up and keeps gold from a major rally, because international investors are buying US securities using dollars."

China wants to hold another round of trade talks by the end of October to nail down further details before Chinese President Xi Jinping agrees to sign the trade deal outlined by US President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies gained 0.2 per cent and global stock markets dipped as trade optimism flagged after the report.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an additional round of tariffs on Chinese imports may be imposed if a trade deal with China has not been reached by Dec 15.

"The news that China wants to have more talks before the trade deal is something that is sinking the optimism that came on Friday after a big announcement from President Trump," said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at Oanda.

"Overall bullish trend (for gold) is intact. There's just been a plethora of reasons why you're seeing demand from all over the world."

On the European front, investors will be focused on a summit between the European Union and Britain in Brussels later this week, with a deal to smooth Britain's departure from the EU hanging in the balance as diplomats indicated the bloc was pushing for more concessions.

In other precious metals, palladium climbed about 1 per cent to US$1,715.49 an ounce. The auto-catalyst metal, which is in short supply, hit a record high of US$1,720.97 earlier in the session.

Silver rose 0.8 per cent to US$17.67 per ounce and platinum edged 0.1 per cent higher to US$890.12.

REUTERS