Investing.com - Gold prices were flat on Tuesday in Asia as a bounce in Asian stocks stoked interest in riskier assets, although investors remained cautious ahead of a key Brexit vote.
Gold futures for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 0.04% at 1,290.75 a troy ounce. Gold cracked the $1,300 resistance on Jan. 4, reaching an intraday high of $1,300.40, before falling back.
Asian equities recovered on Tuesday, with Chinese and Hong Kong stocks gaining about 1% after China said it would cut taxes “on a larger scale” to support its economy.
The move came after weaker-than-expected China trade data in December. The data reinforced concerns that U.S. tariffs were taking a toll on Chinese output, and that China’s 2019 growth rate could be one of the lowest since 1990.
Meanwhile, the U.K. parliament is expected to vote down Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan later in the day. While the defeat is widely anticipated by the market, it could still trigger a volatile knee-jerk market reaction if May loses the vote by a wide margin, analysts said.
"The Brexit negotiations and the trade talks with China continue to be the headline stories" for gold, said Walter Pehowich, executive vice-president at Dillon Gage Metals in Addison, Texas.
"If the partial U.S. government shutdown continues, I expect it will eventually weigh heavily an equity prices as well, sending more investors over to the gold and bond markets," Pehowich added.