Investing.com - Gold prices were near flat on Monday in Asia as traders await the upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week.
Gold futures for August delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, was unchanged at $1,419.65 by 1:28 AM ET (04:28 GMT).
The yellow metal fell 0.5% last week after suffering its sharpest one-day slide in three weeks on Thursday when the European Central Bank decided to hold on to rates instead of adopting a cut as some expected.
The prospect of lower interest rates benefits non-yielding bullion.
Markets attention this week will be on the highly-anticipated U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on July 30-31, where traders expect the Fed to cut rates by at least 25 basis points.
Chances of a more aggressive 50 basis-point cut reduced somewhat after the U.S. reported a stronger-than-expected GDP growth last Friday, although some argued that the stronger-than-expected second quarter growth would not derail the Fed’s plans for a rate cut.
"This is just what the market needed, not so soft that the economy is slowing down precipitously and not so strong that the Fed is going to reverse course," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.
"We expected bad earnings and bad GDP numbers, but an upside on both is something markets are going to embrace today."
The safe-haven gold failed to benefit from a falling stock markets in Asia today, despite concerns surrounding the political crisis in Hong Kong and uncertainties about the developments in Sino-U.S. trade talks. Officials will begin talks in China tomorrow, reports said, but hopes of a breakthrough is low, they added.