Gold prices went sideways in Thursday's trading session as investors focused on watching the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, while waiting for further signals related to the Iran conflict.
As of 2:44 PM Vietnam time, gold futures rose slightly to 4.7119 USD/ounce. US gold futures for June delivery fell slightly 0.2% to 4,696.40 USD/ounce.
Mr. Brian Lan - CEO of GoldSilver Central said that the gold market is currently in an accumulation phase as investors wait for results from high-level negotiations between the US and China.
Gold prices currently tend to adjust slightly, but this may also be an opportunity for investors who want to participate in the market," he said.
President Donald Trump entered a series of meetings with President Xi Jinping in Beijing with the goal of maintaining the fragile trade truce agreement between the two largest economies in the world, while handling issues related to the Middle East conflict.
According to observers, Mr. Trump is said to be seeking support from China to promote a solution to the conflict in Iran - the war that the US and Israel launched at the end of February. However, many experts believe that Washington may find it difficult to achieve the desired support.
Meanwhile, data released on Wednesday showed that the US producer price index (PPI) in April recorded the strongest increase in four years due to rising commodity and service costs, continuing to show that inflationary pressure is still large.
At the same time, the US Senate approved Mr. Kevin Warsh as Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in the context that the US central bank is facing increasing inflationary pressure - a factor that could make interest rate cuts more difficult.
According to CME Group's FedWatch tool, the market is currently almost no longer expecting the Fed to cut interest rates this year, and assesses the possibility of raising interest rates before December at around 28%.
Although gold is often seen as an inflation hedging tool, high interest rates put pressure on the precious metal because this asset does not generate profits.
In India, domestic gold discounts have expanded to a record high of over 200 USD/ounce on Wednesday after the government increased gold import taxes. According to precious metal traders in an exchange with Reuters, the sharp price increase after the tax adjustment has boosted investors' selling activities amid weak market demand.
On other precious metals markets, spot silver prices fell 0.9% to $87.19/ounce, platinum fell 0.2% to $2,133.35/ounce, while palladium rose slightly 0.1% to $1,501.25/ounce.
