Gold pulls back from five-week high

BENGALURU, Dec 05 (Reuters): Gold prices dipped on Wednesday, retreating from a more than five-week top hit in the previous session, as the dollar crawled higher.

Spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at $1,235.31 per ounce at 0648 GMT, after hitting its highest since Oct. 26 at $1,241.86 an ounce in the previous session. US gold futures were down 0.5 per cent at $1,240.7 per ounce.

"Gold is mainly tracking the US dollar," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore. "Today's move in gold prices is a correction because yesterday prices were up quite a bit."

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, edged up about 0.2 per cent, even though the US currency was under pressure as declining Treasury yields raised concerns over economic growth.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to its lowest point since mid-September. The spread between the 10-year yield over its two-year counterpart also shrank to the smallest since the start of the financial crisis in January 2008, signalling to some investors an approaching economic slowdown.

"Gold prices should have taken support from this but it has not. As inflation has come down, crude oil prices have come down, these positive and negative factors are holding gold at the same level," said Renisha Chainani, head of commodity and currency research at Monarch Networth Capital.

Concerns about weaker growth have stoked bets that the Federal Reserve will end its campaign to raise interest rates sooner than previously thought, analysts said.

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last Wednesday that US interest rates were nearing neutral levels, which markets interpreted as signalling a slowdown in rate hikes.

Asian equities dipped in line with Wall Street as resurgent trade concerns stoked worries about global economic growth.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday held out the possibility of an extension of the 90-day trade truce with China, but warned he would revert to tariffs if the two sides could not resolve their differences.