Investing.com – Gold prices held steady on Thursday as traders awaited minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's June policy meeting later in the day.
Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.14% to $1,255.30 a troy ounce by 1:30AM ET (05:30 GMT).
"There's not much incentive to move the market, it is very quiet this morning after the July 4 holiday. I don't expect too much movement until the Fed minutes," said Yuichi Ikemizu, Tokyo branch manager at ICBC Standard Bank.
The outcome of a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting is scheduled to be announced at 2PM ET (18:00 GMT). The central bank had projected in June two more rate hikes in 2018 for a total of four.
Gold is highly sensitive to rising interest rates, as these increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
Trade tension remained in focus. On Friday, the U.S. is scheduled to impose tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods.
The Chinese government accused the U.S. of "opening fire" on the world with its threatened tariffs, and said Beijing would respond the instant U.S. measures go into effect.
Chinese Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Wednesday that China would “never fire the first shot”, and that the country would not implement tariffs ahead of the U.S., despite recent reports suggested that Beijing would begin imposing tariffs hours ahead of the U.S. due to the time zone difference.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, climbed 0.11% to 94.29 on Thursday. The index slipped to 94.397 in the previous session, its lowest level in over a week.