Gold prices little changed as stocks gain despite Sino-U.S. trade tensions

Gold prices were little changed on Monday in Asia as equities gained despite Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

Asian stocks are trading mostly in the green even after U.S. President Donald Trump said he is not ready to make a trade deal with China, which set the yuan’s midpoint at levels weaker than 7 for three consecutive sessions.

Gold Futures traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were little changed at $1,508.15 by 1:10 AM ET (05:10 GMT).

Gold prices ended higher last week after a week of easing by global central banks to shield their economies from the yuan devaluation. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand surprised markets with a half-percentage cut last week. Thailand’s central bank reduced interest rates on the same day for the first time this year, while India, which began easing policy earlier this year, also cut rates.

For the coming week, gold traders will be looking for signs of the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks engaging in deeper rate cuts to blunt the impact of the growing trade war.

On the data front, U.S. inflation data due on Tuesday and China’s July industrial production and retail sales are also expected to be in focus later this week.

“In addition to fresh U.S. data, there will be some very important macro pointers from China, Germany and the Eurozone to look forward to as well,” said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at forex.com.

“If the data in these regions remain soft, then expect to see fresh falls in safe-haven bond yields, which could have repercussions for the wider financial markets.”