PRECIOUS-Gold slips as Trump says U.S., China close to trade deal

(Updates prices, adds comment and details)
* China's industrial profits fall most in 8 months
* U.S. Fed to issue Beige Book of economic condition at 1900
GMT

By Sumita Layek
Nov 27 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged lower on Wednesday
after U.S. President Donald Trump's comment that Washington was
close to an interim trade deal with China boosted demand for
riskier assets.
Spot gold XAU= fell 0.2% to $1,458.85 per ounce by 0751
GMT. Prices touched a two-week low of $1,450.30 in the previous
session. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 shed 0.1% to $1,458.70.
On Tuesday, Trump said Washington was in the "final throes"
of a deal that would defuse the 16-month tariff dispute with
Beijing. "Both the U.S. and China are softening their stance and
there could be an interim deal ... so people are flocking to
riskier assets, and gold is losing its appeal," said Hitesh
Jain, vice president, Yes Securities.
Asian shares ticked higher after Wall Street crawled to
record highs on positive trade news, while the dollar rose.
MKTS/GLOB USD/
However, "at this stage, the markets are not going to have
any significant response in terms of lasting follow through
unless there is ink on paper or any kind of tangible development
(on the trade front)," Ilya Spivak, a senior currency strategist
at DailyFx, said.
Investors were still wary that bills passed by the United
States supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong will
complicate negotiations. On China's industrial front, data showed profits of firms
fell at their steepest pace in eight months in October. This
comes after U.S. consumer confidence fell for a fourth straight
month in November. Nonetheless, safe-haven bullion, which has gained more than
13% this year, mainly due to the tariff dispute, was little
moved.
"If the U.S. Federal Reserve has already signalled that they
are not going to continue to cut interest rates as they have,
then soft data means nothing for gold," Spivak added.
The central bank cut interest rates three times this year
before pausing. Lower rates reduce the opportunity cost for
holders of bullion, an asset that yields no interest.
"The safe-haven asset, though indicating resilience,
continues to face considerable headwinds as global risk
appetites stay vigorous over positive signals (on the trade
front)," Phillip Futures analyst Benjamin Lu said in a note.
Spot gold may retest a support at $1,455 per ounce, a break
below which could cause a fall into the range of $1,417-$1,440,
according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. are now awaiting the Fed's Beige Book of economic
condition among other data due later in the day.
Elsewhere, silver XAG= fell 0.2% to $17.04 per ounce,
palladium XPD= shed 0.5% to $1,801 and platinum XPT= was
down 0.4% to $903.66.

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