Mubasher: Gold traded lower on Wednesday following US President Donald Trump’s remarks on a soon preliminary trade deal with Beijing, supporting risk-on sentiment, Reuters said.

By 7:36 am GMT, spot gold declined by 0.15% to $1,459.17 per ounce, after hitting two-week low of $1,450.30 on Tuesday, while US gold futures ticked down by 0.05% to $1,466.60 per ounce.

The US and China were in the “final throes” of discussions to reach an agreement on the final phase of a trade deal, President Trump said, after high-level negotiators from both sides held phone talks and agreed to continue work on remaining issues.

Asian shares edged higher on positive headlines, as the US dollar firmed up.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six major rivals, edged up by 0.10% to 98.3460.

However, “at this stage, the markets are not going to have any significant response in terms of lasting follow through unless there is ink on paper or any kind of tangible development,” DailyFx senior currency strategist Ilya Spivak was quoted by Reuters.

Investors remained cautious that legislation passed by the US Congress to back protestors in Hong Kong could threatened to overshadow the trade negotiations with China.

On the data front, US consumer confidence declined for the fourth month in a row in November.

In China, industrial firms saw their profits taking a steep dive towards an eight-month trough in October.

Nevertheless, “if the US Federal Reserve has already signalled that they are not going to continue to cut interest rates as they have, then soft data means nothing for gold,” Spivak said.