Mubasher: Gold prices edged up on Friday as qualms prevailed over the US and China clinching a partial trade deal, Reuters reported.

By 9:09 am GMT, spot gold climbed by 0.41% to $1,470.48 per ounce, while US gold futures rose by 0.38% to $1,476.10 per ounce.

China invited senior US trade officials for a fresh round of face-to-face negotiations in Beijing, in an attempt to hammer out a deal, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing unnamed sources.

This followed reports that a ‘Phase One’ trade deal between the world’s two leading economies may not be reached this year.

Furthermore, worries were raised that bills passed by Washington supporting the Hong Kong protestors could curtail a smooth signing of an interim trade deal.

“The trade deal is definitely the theme at the moment as it looks like the US Federal Reserve's easing is on hold, so anything positive about the trade dispute is clearly negative for gold and any delay is positive,” ABC Bullion global general manager Nicholas Frappell was quoted by Reuters.

The Fed lowered interest rates three times this year to help shore up the economy against the impact of trade conflict with China, before deciding to put brakes on monetary easing.

However, the precious metal was dragged down by a rally of Asian equities even gains were limited by trade worries, while the US dollar held onto its overnight gains.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, ticked up by 0.03% to 98.0230.