Gold edges higher, but lingers near six-month trough

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices inched up on Thursday, but hovered close to an over six-month low hit in the previous session, as the dollar failed to build on overnight gains amid conflicting signals from Washington while the U.S.-China trade row deepened.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,253.20 an ounce, as of 0127 GMT. In the prior session, it touched $1,250.30, its lowest since mid-December.

* U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,254.60 an ounce.

* The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies stood steady at 95.254, though it failed to build on overnight gains amid conflicting signals from Washington on a proposal to restrict Chinese investment as the bitter U.S.-China trade row kept financial markets on edge. [USD/]

* U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will use a strengthened national security review process to thwart Chinese acquisitions of sensitive American technologies, a softer approach than imposing China-specific investment restrictions.

* Tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods imposed by the Trump administration could hit up to 15 percent of goods moving through the Port of Los Angeles once they go into effect, the port's executive director Gene Seroka told Reuters.

* The rapidly deteriorating trade and investment relationship between Washington and Beijing is sending a further chill through Chinese dealmakers who have already seen the number of Chinese acquisitions of American assets take a big hit.

* Two major auto trade groups warned the Trump administration that imposing up to 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles would cost hundreds of thousands of auto jobs.

* Moscow and Washington struck a deal on Wednesday to hold a summit soon between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, a move likely to worry some U.S. allies and draw a fiery reaction from some of Trump's critics at home.

* The Federal Reserve should continue to gradually raise interest rates to lower the risk of a major policy error, Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren said on Wednesday.

* The U.S. economy is growing at a 4.5 percent annualized rate in the second quarter following the latest data on home sales and advance trade balance released this week, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow forecast model showed.

* The Canadian government said it had rejected the proposed Ajax open pit gold and copper mine in the Pacific province of British Columbia, citing what it said were significant adverse environmental effects.

* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.36 percent to 821.69 tonnes on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Karen Rodrigues in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)