Mubasher: Gold prices rose on Wednesday, having dropped by more than 1% in the prior session, as investors retreated from riskier assets, in the absence of concrete developments on the US-Sino trade front, Reuters said.

By 6:58 am GMT, spot gold went up by 0.16% to $1,485.95 per ounce, while US gold futures rose by 0.23% to $1,487.10 per ounce.

Gold posted on Tuesday roughly 1.7% one-session losses, its biggest since late September, owing to a firm dollar and higher bond yields.

Risk-taking appetite in financial markets was fuelled as optimism that the US and China were in the process of bridging gaps to hammer out a “Phase One” trade pact as early as this month.

Furthermore, the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) non-manufacturing figures from the US for October came better expected, mollifying worries of global economic slowdown.

However, “equities are off a little bit, bonds yields are also down, these factors are helping gold,” AxiTrader market strategist Stephen Innes was quoted by Reuters.

Asian stocks retreated slightly as some investors started to be circumspect on the trade talks between the world’s two leading economies, with the absence of concrete progress.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year bonds fell, after scaling their highest since 16 September in the preceding session, as the US dollar edged down.

The US dollar index, which gauges the greenback against six key peers, inched down by 0.09% to 97.8990.