LONDON: Gold rose on Thursday, extending gains to a third session, as weak Chinese data and doubts about whether Beijing and Washington will reach a trade deal anytime soon dented demand for riskier assets.

Spot gold was up 0.4 per cent at $1,468.23 per ounce, as of 1224 GMT, having climbed to a high of $1,470.33. US gold futures also rose 0.4pc to $1,468.90 per ounce. China and the United States are holding “in-depth” discussions on a first-phase trade agreement, and cancelling tariffs is an important condition to reaching a deal, the Chinese commerce ministry said.

“We are seeing some risk aversion in the markets,” said Craig Erlam, OANDA senior market analyst, adding: “The commentary from both sides has kind of taken away some optimism around this phase one deal.” On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said a trade deal with China was “close” but offered no details and warned that he would raise tariffs “substantially” on Chinese goods without such an accord.

Meanwhile, holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , eased slightly to 896.77 tonnes on Wednesday. Among other precious metals, palladium gained 0.9pc to $1,725.43 per ounce. Silver rose 0.5pc to $17.04 per ounce, while platinum was 0.3pc higher at $876.52 per ounce.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2019