• Gold prices fell on Thursday, pulling back from one-week highs reached the session before, as risk appetite recovered after the United States expressed willingness to resolve an escalating trade fight with China.
• As investors pulled out of gold, Asian equities rebounded from two-month lows with investors hoping a full-blown trade war between the world’s two biggest economies can be averted.
Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,329.11 per ounce by 0409 GMT, after touching a one-week high of $1,348.06 on Wednesday.
U.S. gold futures fell 0.6 percent to $1,332.60 an ounce.
• The United States voiced willingness on Wednesday to talk with China after Beijing retaliated against proposed U.S. tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods by targeting key American imports.
• Gold’s drop shows traders were “liquidating profits and opportunists taking advantage of the market on a short term basis,” said Joshua Rotbart, managing partner of J. Rotbart & Co in Hong Kong.
• But Rotbart said “the more intense the trade war becomes, we will see higher demand for gold.”
• China is the world’s largest gold consumer.
• However, China’s Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said on Wednesday that the United States and China should avoid a trade war, stressing that Beijing’s preference was to resolve the dispute through negotiations.
• Meanwhile, spot silver inched down 0.1 percent to $16.27 per ounce.
• Platinum was off 0.6 percent at $906.74 an ounce, after earlier hitting $905.50, its lowest since Dec. 22.
• Palladium gained 0.3 percent to $927 an ounce after touching $913 on Wednesday, its weakest since early October
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