Investing.com - Prices of the safe-haven gold slipped on Monday in Asia as Asian stocks traded higher ahead of the U.S.-China phase one trade deal signing.
Gold Futures for February delivery on New York’s COMEX dropped 0.3% to $1,555.45 by 1:25 AM ET (05:25 GMT).
The yellow metal dropped as the U.S. is expected to sign the long awaited phase one trade deal with China this week.
Under the terms of the accord, Beijing will increase imports from the U.S. in exchange for the suspension of the December tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. and a partial rollback of some existing tariffs.
No deadline has been set for the phase two trade talks, although U.S. President Donald Trump has said earlier that negotiations will start soon after the signing of the phase one deal.
The yellow metal got some support earlier in the day as bond prices firmed on weaker-than-expected December U.S. payroll growth. That pushed interest lower, making non-yielding gold more attractive.
Situation in Iran also received some attention after its government admitted that they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet.
Iran’s admission came only after the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia said they had intelligence indicating that the plane was struck by an Iranian missile, which Iran at first vehemently denied.