Gold holds steady in holiday-thinned trading

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Gold prices held steady on Monday in thin

trading, as investors refrained from making big bets ahead of

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the Christmas and New Year holidays while waiting for fresh

developments on the Sino-U.S. trade front.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,479.05 per ounce by

0106 GMT. U.S. gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,482.90 per

ounce.

* U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said the United

States and China would “very shortly” sign their so-called Phase

One trade pact, but the markets still craved for further details

of the agreement.

* China’s top lawmaking body on Saturday criticized the

defense bill that Washington passed on Dec. 9 as “interference,”

state news agency Xinhua reported.

* U.S. economic growth nudged up in the third quarter, while

consumer spending increased solidly in November, pointing to

moderate economic growth that could support the Federal

Reserve’s desire to keep interest rates unchanged indefinitely,

data on Friday showed.

* China, the world’s top bullion producer and consumer,

launched its first gold options contract on the Shanghai Futures

Exchange on Friday.

* Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar are considering trading

among themselves in gold and through a barter system as a hedge

against any future economic sanctions on them, Malaysian Prime

Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday.

* Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed

exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , rose 0.3% to 885.93

tonnes on Friday.

* Speculators increased their bullish positions in COMEX

gold and silver contracts in the week to Dec. 17.

* Gold demand was subdued in major Asian hubs last week,

with India in the midst of protests against a new citizenship

law that disrupted some retail buying and traders elsewhere

banking on the Chinese New Year for an uptick in sales.

* AngloGold Ashanti said it expected its Obuasi gold mine in

Ghana to produce about 350,000 ounces to 400,000 ounces per year

for the first 10 years.

* Elsewhere, palladium fell 0.5% to $1,846.83 per

ounce, after declining as much as 5% in the previous session.

* Silver was flat at $17.19 per ounce, while platinum

gained 0.9% to $916.70.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0200* China Final Trade Data Nov

1230 U.S. Durable Goods Nov

1230 U.S. Durables ex-Transport Nov

1330 Canada GDP MM Oct

1500 U.S. New Homes Sales Units Nov

2350 Japan Bank of Japan releases minutes of monetary policy

meeting held on Oct. 30 and 31.

*no precise release time

(Reporting by Sumita Layek in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu

Sahu)