Gold Futures Near Flat; Global Slowdown Fears, U.S.-China Trade Frictions In Focus

Wednesday,   23-Jan-2019   12:58 PM (IST)

Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday in Asia amid a sudden surge in uncertainties surrounding the U.S.- China trade talks. Weak global economic data also remained in focus.Gold Futures inched up 0.03% to $1,283.85 on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division. The U.S. Dollar Index, measured against a basket of six major currencies, was unchanged at 95.963 after hitting a near three-week high at 96.148 yesterday.Disappointing economic data continued to dent investor sentiment this week. Data on Tuesday revealed that U.S. home sales tumbled to their lowest in three years in December. Meanwhile, Japan export and import data released on Wednesday also fell short of expectations, with exports posting the biggest fall in more than two years.On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund revised downward its 2019 global growth forecast to 3.5% from October's 3.7%.Chinese data also showed on Monday the lowest annual economic growth in nearly 30 years, while factory orders indicated a further loss in activity and jobs.While Tuesday’s risk aversion lifted the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar, gold futures were little impacted as it settled up merely $0.80 at $1,283.40.In other news, U.S.-China trade frictions remained in focus after the Financial Times reported overnight that the White House rejected a trade meeting with Chinese officials this week.U.S. equities traded lower following the report, although White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow later denied that an official meeting had been cancelled and said that “there was never a planning meeting” other than the visit by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He next week.