June 13 (Reuters) - Gold held steady in early Asian trade on
Thursday as festering Sino-U.S. trade tensions and hopes of an
interest rate cut by the U.S. central bank following soft
inflation data buoyed demand for the safe-haven bullion.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1% at $1,334.11 as of 0148 GMT.
* U.S. gold futures GCv1 were steady at $1,336.70 an
ounce.
* U.S. consumer prices barely rose in May, data from the
Labor Department showed on Wednesday, pointing to moderate
inflation that together with a slowing economy increased
pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year.
* Weak economic data such as Wednesday's has investors
hoping the Fed would give hints about a rate cut after its June
18-19 meeting.
* The dollar index .DXY versus a basket of six major
currencies was steady, having risen more than 0.3% overnight.
USD/
* U.S. President Donald Trump declined to set a deadline on
Wednesday for levying tariffs on another $325 billion of Chinese
goods and called the relationship with Beijing good but "testy"
after China walked back commitments for a trade deal.
* Trump said he had a "feeling" a U.S.-China trade deal
could be reached. But he again threatened to increase tariffs on
Chinese goods if there is no agreement.
* Trump says he wants to meet with Chinese President Xi
Jinping at the June 28-29 G20 summit in Osaka, Japan and will
decide on whether to extend tariffs to almost all Chinese
imports after that.
* Asian stocks stuttered on Thursday, dogged by the
uncertainty over an intractable U.S.-China trade dispute.
MKTS/GLOB
* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.5% to 759.70 tonnes on
Wednesday from 756.18 tonnes on Tuesday.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
* 0600 Germany HICP Final YY May