Market News

(Bloomberg) -- Gold advanced following a run of losses, as the market digested traders the outcome of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Bullion rose as much as 1.3%, after falling almost 5% over the previous four sessions. Trump said it was an “amazing meeting” and that China would halt rare earth controls and resume purchases of American soybeans. Xi said his country is willing to cooperate with the US in areas such as trade, energy and artificial intelligence, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Earlier, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell downplayed the likelihood of a December reduction after a widely expected quarter-point cut on Wednesday. Still, despite Powell’s unusually direct remarks, the vote marked the third straight meeting in which officials lodged dissents against the majority decision — a run not seen since 2019.

“This looks like an early attempt to reset the US–China narrative by re-engaging selective trade channels to restore confidence,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets in Singapore. “Gold is, however, still sniffing out uncertainty — pricing a soft easing bias from the Fed and lingering geopolitical risk.”

The precious metal has retreated sharply in recent days following a scorching rally that drove prices to a record above $4,380 an ounce last week. Technical indicators had shown the ascent was overheated, while growing signs of progress in US-China trade relations have eroded bullion’s haven appeal.

Still, even after its recent pullback, gold has advanced about 50% this year, supported by central-bank buying and interest in the so-called debasement trade, in which investors avoid sovereign debt and currencies to protect themselves from runaway budget deficits.

“The market has experienced a natural correction, but we continue to view this bull market as incomparable with prior bull markets in terms of the breadth and depth of potential monetary demand,” Sebastian Mullins, head of multi-asset and fixed income at Schroders, said in a note.

Spot gold rose 1% to $3,968.94 an ounce as of 3:23 p.m. in Singapore. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady. Silver rose for a third day, platinum was little changed, while palladium advanced.