· Gold slid to a near five-month low on Monday, as the dollar rose and demand for safe-haven assets eased after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a trade war between China and the United States was "on hold".
Spot gold was down 0.6 percent at $1,283.30 per ounce at 0658 GMT, after earlier hitting $1,281.76, its lowest since Dec. 27.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery were 0.7 percent lower at $1,282.50.
· "Gold price is under pressure as the dollar maintains its strength," said Naeem Aslam, chief markets analyst at Think Markets.
"'On Hold' is a risk-on term...The absence of trade tariffs and hostile tone between the two countries has also impacted the gold price more adversely," Aslam said.
· The dollar rose versus the yen and hit a five month-high against a basket of currencies, after Mnuchin's comments downplaying a trade dispute with China, boosting risk sentiment amid hopes for an easing of trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies.
· Chinese state media on Monday praised a significant dialing back of trade tension with the U.S., saying China had stood its ground and the two countries had huge potential for win-win business cooperation.
· "You have this combination of technical factors which is at the moment un-supportive (for gold). As long as the dollar is on the firm side, gold is under pressure," said Dominic Schnider at UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong.
· The price of gold fell below the psychologically important $1,300 per ounce level last week for the first time since late December and has since continued to trade below its 200-day moving average.
· "Investors are looking towards the biggest event of this week- the FOMC minutes and if the Fed doesn't tame its hawkish stance, we would expect more weakness in the gold price," Aslam said.
· Hedge funds and money managers cut their net long position in COMEX gold contracts by 21,294 contracts to 31,327 in the week to May 15, data showed on Friday.
· In other precious metals, silver fell 0.8 percent to $16.30 an ounce.
· Platinum was 0.4 percent lower at $879 an ounce, after marking an over five-month low at $874 earlier.
· Palladium rose 0.5 percent at $968.30 per ounce, after hitting a two-week low at $960.22 on Friday.
Reference: Reuters
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