Investing.com - Gold prices were steady on Friday in Asia and remained above the key $1,300 level.
Gold futures traded near flat at $1307.85 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange by 1:25 AM ET (05:25 GMT).
The Federal Reserve’s reassurance of a steady interest rate policy in 2019 put the U.S. dollar under pressure and boosted prices of the safe-haven gold this week.
Gold is highly sensitive to interest rates, as lower rates tend to pressure the dollar and increase investor interest in non-yielding bullion.
The precious metal is now on track for a third straight weekly gain.
“Technically, gold is getting good support at the $1,300 price level and fundamentally, the Fed not raising rates this year is a strong signal for gold," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals, in a Reuters report.
Traders are also paying attention to developments related to Brexit and Sino-U.S. trade.
On Thursday, the European Union postponed the Brexit date until May 22 if U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May could convince lawmakers to back her withdrawal deal, or April 12 if she could not.
"What the decision today underlines is the importance of the House of Commons passing a Brexit deal next week so that we can bring an end to the uncertainty and leave in a smooth and orderly manner," May said at a press briefing around midnight. "Tomorrow morning, I will be returning to the U.K. and working hard to build support for getting the deal through."
Meanwhile, high-level officials from the U.S. and Chinese are set to begin a new round of trade talks next week in Beijing. U.S. officials are aiming to reach a deal with China by the end of April, reports said.
Uncertainty surrounding a potential trade deal increased earlier this week after U.S. President Donald Trump said he’ll keep tariffs on China “for a substantial period of time.”
“We’re not talking about removing them, we’re talking about leaving them for a substantial period of time, because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China that China lives by the deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
“They’ve had a lot of problems living by certain deals.”