LONDON: Gold prices edged higher on Friday, but was still on track to post its biggest weekly decline in about two months as solid Chinese data and a preliminary US-China trade deal improved risk appetite.

World shares hit record highs after data showed China’s economy was stabilising and the world’s second-largest economy ended 2019 on a somewhat firmer note as the trade truce revived business confidence.

Spot gold rose 0.3 per cent to $1,556.56 per ounce as of 1059 GMT, but was heading for a weekly drop of about 0.4pc - its biggest since the week ended Nov 8. US gold futures rose 0.4pc to $1,556.70.

“The growth prospects and inflation outlook is still fragile which supports gold prices but this is just a movement of consolidation at the moment,” said SP Angel analyst Sergey.

“We saw (a) couple of central banks cutting rates yesterday,” Raevskiy said, adding that eurozone economic growth was still a big question among investors.

In other metals, palladium rose 2.9pc to $2,380.84 an ounce, after hitting a record high of $2,401.98 earlier.

The auto-catalyst was set for its biggest weekly gain since March 2016 having risen over 12pc so far.

“There was no news that could have justified the upswing apart from the good EU new car registration figures that were reported yesterday,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note, adding, a prolonged supply-deficit is still supporting prices.

Platinum jumped 1.8pc to $1,022.15 after hitting its highest since February 2017 at $1,041.05 in the previous session.

Speculative purchases and technical buying have been driving platinum prices higher, Commerzbank analysts said.

Silver advanced 0.8pc to $18.08 per ounce.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2020