Gold eases as dollar recovery offsets dovish Fed

By Arijit Bose

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold eased on Thursday, holding below the key $1,300 an ounce level, as the dollar bounced back from lows, with the precious metal paring back gains seen after dovish U.S. Federal Reserve minutes in the previous session.

Spot gold fell 0.3 percent to $1,288.76 per ounce as of 11:20 a.m. ET (1620 GMT), having reached $1,297.08 earlier in the session.

U.S. gold futures shed 0.2 percent to $1,289.40 per ounce.

"Gold has seen some consolidation beneath the psychological $1,300 level, with a pull on each side of the market," said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

"There is some support from the Fed less likely to raise interest rates and yet on the other side a little lesser need for safe haven as we've seen a rebound in equities as of late."

Global markets have been on the rise for the previous four sessions, but lost steam on Thursday on limited clarity from U.S.-China trade talks.

With a three-day meeting between the United States and China having concluded, the Chinese commerce ministry said that progress was made on "structural issues" like forced technology transfers and intellectual property rights without shedding further light on key issues relating to trade.

"So far this week, (gold) prices have failed to fall below $1,277 and are now trying to attack again the $1,300 level. If they manage to reach this threshold, there would be space for further rallies," ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto De Casa said in a note.

Gold rose about 0.6 percent after minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released on Wednesday showed several policymakers urged patience about future interest rate hikes in the December meeting.

But a recovery in the dollar from three-month lows have been weighing on prices, making bullion more expensive for holders of other currencies.

In other metals, palladium fell about 0.5 percent to $1,320.45 per ounce, after scaling an all-time high of $1,342.43 in the previous session.

"There is always a potential for some profit-taking in palladium," said Capital Economics analyst Ross Strachan.

"With the fact that reports on the trade front were a bit further away from an agreement than what appeared to be the case this time yesterday, a little bit of the froth in palladium prices is being removed."

Silver fell 0.8 percent at $15.62 per ounce, while platinum was steady at $824.80.

(Reporting by Arijit Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Frances Kerry)