Mubasher: Gold prices rose on Friday, but they were on course of their biggest weekly drop in two years and a half, as hopes of a preliminary trade deal between the US and China boosted risk-taking appetite and in turn weighed on the safe-haven metal, according to Reuters.

By 8:39 am GMT, spot gold rose by 0.15% to $1,470.75 per ounce, but was on track to record its biggest weekly fall since May 2017, while US gold futures climbed by 0.38% to $1,472 per ounce.

Gold prices on Thursday settled 2% lower, hitting their lowest levels since one month.

Global equities rallied and the US dollar advanced after Washington and Beijing agreed to lift some existing tariffs in tranches on each others’ goods, if “Phase One” trade deal is hammered out.

Nevertheless, the interim trade deal is reportedly facing internal opposition at the White House on worries as to whether the rollback of tariffs will take away the US leverage in the negotiations with China, according to Reuters.

“The market has a lot of questions about this, [...] even though there was a selloff, gold did not break below the lows in August,” DailyFx senior currency strategist Ilya Spivak was quoted by the news agency as saying.