PRECIOUS-Gold dips on firm dollar; trade concerns, rate-cut bets cap losses

* SPDR Gold holdings dipped 0.15% on Tuesday
* Dollar hits one-week high
* U.S. retail sales strong, but market still set on Fed cut

(Updates prices)
By Brijesh Patel
July 17 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged lower on Wednesday, as
the dollar firmed on robust U.S. retail sales data, while hopes
of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and broad
uncertainties over trade between Washington and Beijing kept a
lid on declines.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.1% at $1,404.75 per ounce, as of
0719 GMT.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 slipped 0.3% to $1,407 an ounce.
"Yesterday we had positive data from the U.S., gold came
down a little; but we are still expecting interest rate to be
reduced by the Fed," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer
GoldSilver Central in Singapore.
Also, "the U.S. and China are not close to any resolution at
this point of time and a lot of central banks continue to buy
gold, particularly China," which is supportive for gold, he
added.
Denting the bullion's appeal, the dollar index .DXY hit a
one-week high on Tuesday after data showed that U.S. retail
sales increased more than expected in June, adding to recent
evidence that the economy is improving. USD/ However, the data barely changed market wagers on a U.S.
central bank rate cut this month. Futures FEDWATCH are still
100% priced for a cut of 25 basis points, and imply a 27% chance
of 50 basis points. Adding to the sentiment, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on
Tuesday reiterated pledges to "act as appropriate" to keep the
U.S. economy humming, in a speech that did not deviate from
expectations that a rate cut is on the way. "The four largest central banks are set to unleash fresh
stimulus in the second half of the year and gold's bullish
outlook remains intact with short-term resistance resting at the
$1,500 an ounce level," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at
OANDA, said in a note.
On the trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday
said the United States still has a long way to go to conclude a
trade deal with China, but could impose tariffs on an additional
$325 billion worth of Chinese goods if it needed to do so.
Meanwhile, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's
largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.15% to 799.37
tonnes on Tuesday from 800.54 tonnes on Monday. GOL/ETF
Spot gold is biased to break a support at $1,404 per ounce,
and fall to $1,387, following its failure to break the
resistance at $1,421, according to Reuters technical analyst
Wang Tao. Among other precious metals, silver XAG= rose 0.4% to
$15.62 per ounce, hovering near a more than four-month high of
$15.69 hit in the previous session.
Platinum XPT= gained 0.2% to $839.46 an ounce, while
palladium XPD= eased 0.2% to $1,521.92.