Gold holds steady ahead of U.S.-EU trade talks

By Karen Rodrigues

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday as the dollar held steady ahead of a meeting between the U.S. and European Commission presidents to discuss trade-related issues.

Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $1,223.97 an ounce at 0333 GMT.

U.S. gold futures for August delivery were 0.1 percent lower at $1,223.90 an ounce.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 94.652.

"It is extremely quiet and everyone is staying on the sidelines... I think the market is still waiting for information on the trade war," said Dick Poon, general manager, Heraeus Metals Hong Kong Ltd.

A meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is set to be held in Washington on Wednesday, where the two leaders will discuss trade-related issues.

This come after the United States imposed tariffs on EU steel and aluminium in June and Trump threatened to extend them to EU cars and car parts.

Meanwhile, investors are also awaiting the second-quarter U.S. economic growth data which is due on Friday, where they expect growth to top current forecasts of 4.1 percent.

"We still remain somewhat cautious on the precious metals group. In addition to poor-looking technicals, the market is vulnerable to the dollar resuming its upswing. This could happen as easily as Friday when the GDP numbers come out," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.

"Anything meaningfully north of 4.2 percent could lead to yet another push-up in the greenback and pressure gold lower as investors coalesce around perceptions of a Fed intent on raising rates as expeditiously as it can."

A now-robust U.S. economy will soon lose momentum on rising interest rates and escalating trade disputes, according to economists polled by Reuters, who nonetheless gave just a one-in-three chance of a recession over the next two years.

Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.1 percent at $15.42 an ounce.

Platinum was 0.3 percent higher at $830.99 per ounce, while palladium fell 0.5 percent to $910 an ounce.

(Reporting by Karen Rodrigues in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)