Gold Prices Remain Firm As US-China Trade Deal Details Disappoint

On Thursday, gold prices in the international and domestic markets remained steady after details on the preliminary US-China trade deal showed that the countries failed to resolve a number of their issues.

Gold futures on MCX were trading 0.07 percent higher at Rs 39,640 per 10 grams. In the global market, spot gold was almost unchanged at $1,555.74 an ounce and gold futures were slightly up by 0.2 percent at $1,556.20.

Meanwhile, palladium scaled to a record high of $2,284 an ounce, while platinum jumped to its highest since January 2018.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the 'phase 1' of the long-awaited trade deal between the two countries that was aimed at defusing their tensions.

Market analysts say that the US hasn't gained much from the deal as a huge uncertainty has been placed on the American economy, farmers and workers. Critical issues like intellectual thefts and China's industrial subsidies were not fully addressed while huge tariffs (that slowed the global economy) still remain.

Last year, the precious metal, which is considered as a safe haven asset in times of uncertainty, gained close to 20 percent amid the tit-for-tat tariff imposition by the two countries.

Stock markets around, however, cheered the trade deal, as their scaled to new highs on Thursday morning. BSE's benchmark Sensex surpassed the 42,000 level to a new high of 42,059.45.