Gold inches up as dollar eases on Sino-US trade hopes, palladium hits record

Gold prices edged up on Monday as the dollar eased after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods as trade talks between the two nations were making progress, while palladium hit a record-high.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,329.16 per ounce at 0056 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures dipped 0.2 percent to $1,330.8 per ounce.

* Spot palladium, which hit a record-high of $1,505 per ounce in early trade, was up 0.3 percent at $1,502.

* The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.1 percent at 96.463.

* Trump said on Sunday that he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods that had been scheduled for later this week, citing "substantial progress" in U.S.-China trade talks over the weekend.

* The president said in a tweet that progress had been made on a host of divisive areas including intellectual property protection, technology transfers, agriculture, services and currency and that he and his Chinese counterpart would meet to seal a deal if progress continued.

* Asian share markets looked well set on Monday on the U.S.-China trade hopes.

* UK Prime Minister Theresa May put off a vote in parliament on her Brexit deal until as late as March 12 - just 17 days before Britain is due to leave the EU - setting up a showdown this week with lawmakers who accuse her of running out the clock.

* Physical gold demand in Japan slackened this week as prices rallied, while a market correction towards the latter half of the week lured some buyers back in India and Singapore.