PRECIOUS-Gold steadies off 1-month peak on Sino-U.S. trade talk hopes

May 15 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Wednesday after
retreating from a one-month peak in the previous session as
Washington and Beijing decided to further their discussions on
trade, soothing investor concerns around a full-blown trade war.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,297.45 per ounce at 0136
GMT.
* U.S. gold futures GCv1 were also steady at $1,298 an
ounce.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the trade
war with China "a little squabble" and insisted talks between
the world's two largest economies had not collapsed, as
investors remained on guard for a further escalation of
tit-for-tat tariffs. * Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Chinese government also
confirmed that the two countries have agreed to keep talking
about their trade dispute. * The dollar was also firm early in Asia on Wednesday, while
the Australian dollar brushed a fresh more than four-month low
as traders eyed Chinese and European data for evidence that the
worst may be over for the global economy. FRX/
* In the previous session, both U.S. and European stocks
were lifted by Trump downplaying his trade war with China, a day
after a spike in tensions between the world's two largest
economies rattled financial markets. * However, restraining further downside for gold, Asian
shares still struggled near a 3-1/2-month low on Wednesday on
lingering concerns over the economic impact of a U.S.-China
trade war. MKTS/GLOB
* Global investors' equity allocations fell 6 percentage
points in May and over a third of fund managers have taken out
protection against sharp stock market falls in coming months,
Bank of America Merrill Lynch's latest monthly survey found on
Tuesday. * Petra Diamonds PDL.L said on Tuesday it sold a 425-carat
diamond, recovered at its flagship Cullinan mine in South Africa
in March, to Belgium-based Stargems Group for $15 million,
potentially helping it turn free cash flow positive this year.
AHEAD (GMT)
* 0200 China Urban Investment (ytd) YY April
* 0200 China Industrial Output YY April
* 0200 China Retail Sales YY April
* 0600 Germany GDP Flash QQ SA Q1
* 0600 Germany GDP Flash YY NSA Q1
* 0900 EU GDP Flash Estimate QQ YY Q1
* 1000 EU Reserve Assets Total April
* 1230 U.S. Retail Sales MM April
* 1315 U.S. Industrial Production MM April