LONDON: Gold prices edged lower on Thursday after an upbeat assessment of the US economy by the Federal Reserve and new trade tensions between Washington and Beijing boosted the dollar and US bond yields.
Gold has slumped 11 percent since April to its lowest in a year as rising US interest rates and the perception that trade wars will damage the United States less than other nations pushed the dollar higher.
The stronger dollar hurts gold because it makes bullion more expensive for buyers with other currencies. Higher bond yields meanwhile make non-yielding gold less attractive to investors.
But with the dollar up 0.4 percent against a basket of currencies at 1224 GMT, spot gold was holding fairly steady, down 0.1 percent at $1,214.51 an ounce.
"It looks like gold doesn't want to go lower at the moment," said ABN AMRO analyst Georgette Boele.
"We are in territory - $1,200-$1,220 an ounce - where we should start to bottom out."
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