Investing.com -- Gold prices slipped on Thursday after confirmation of a restart to U.S.-China trade talks supported risk assets at the expense of havens.
By 6:20 AM ET (1220 GMT), gold futures for delivery on the Comex exchange were down $10.95 or 0.7% at $1.549.05 a troy ounce, while spot gold was down 0.7% at $1,538.39 an ounce.
On Wednesday, gold had hit a six-year high of $1,566.15.
With stocks and industrial commodities all ticking up on the same trade news, government bonds also retreated. The yield on the U.S.long bond rose above 2% again, and the yield on the 10-year note crept to 1.52%, some four basis points above the two-year note. European government yields also rose as the swearing in of a new government in Italy brought that country’s latest political crisis to an end, while lawmakers steered the U.K. further away from a disorderly Brexit at the end of next month.
The improving risk picture has weakened support for gold at such elevated levels, Ole Hansen, head of commodity research at Saxo Bank, said via Twitter, highlighting the formation of a bearish “double-top” formation around $1,555. Hansen saw $1,517 as the key support level in the near term but said it was unlikely to be breached unless the 10-year Treasury yield rose back above 1.55%.
Treasuries still appear well-enough bid, however, in the light of comments on Wednesday from various Federal Reserve officials voicing fears that the economy may slow more noticeably in the coming quarters due to the debilitating effect of trade uncertainties on business investment. The comments suggested that the Fed is, at the very least, on course to deliver the widely-expected 25 basis-point cut at its policy meeting on Sept. 17-18.
Elsewhere, silver futures retreated from seemingly overbought levels, falling 0.7% to $19.42 an ounce. Platinum, which has also rallied strongly in the last month, eked out another 0.1% gain to $980.60 an ounce.
Copper futures rose 1.4% to a three-week high of $2.63 a pound.