* U.S. Fed minutes due on Wednesday
* Trade talks scheduled in Washington on Oct. 10-11
* Specs slash bullish bets on COMEX gold -CFTC
(Recasts, adds comment, updates prices)
By Asha Sistla and Brijesh Patel
Oct 7 (Reuters) - Gold slipped nearly 1% on Monday as
equities rose and the dollar firmed after positive comments from
both Beijing and Washington fueled optimism over a bilateral
trade deal ahead of this week's high-level talks.
Spot gold XAU was down 0.9% at $1,491.50 per ounce as of
2:44 p.m. EDT (1844 GMT). U.S. gold futures GCcv1 settled 0.6%
lower at $1,504.4 an ounce.
"The fact that gold fell sharply on what was a dubious
'positive' trade headline and was unable to recover suggests the
market remains long and frustrated from last week after the
payrolls release failed to signal imminent danger," said Tai
Wong, head of base and precious metals derivatives trading at
BMO.
Chinese Commerce Ministry said China was ready for a deal
with the United States on parts of negotiations both sides agree
upon, according to a FOX reporter tweet. Meanwhile, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said
there could be progress during the talks in Washington and that
delisting Chinese companies traded on U.S. exchanges 'is not on
the table.' Optimistic signals from both sides calmed nerves over the
outcome of this week's trade talks and lifted U.S. stocks.
MKTS/GLOB
Further weighing on gold's appeal, the dollar .DXY rose
0.2% against a basket of major currencies. USD/
Also on investors' radar was the Federal Reserve Open Market
Committee's minutes from its September meeting on Wednesday.
A string of weak U.S. economic data, including sluggish
manufacturing activity and a sharp slowdown in services industry
growth, heightened recession fears, although Friday's decent
jobs report halted bullion's upside. "Last week was getting fairly bullish for gold with the ISM
and non-manufacturing numbers, but the jobs number was not
terrible and that sort of dampened the bullishness in gold,"
said Ryan McKay, a commodity strategist at TD Securities.
Speculators slashed their bullish positions in COMEX gold
and trimmed bullish bets on silver contracts in the week to Oct.
1, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on
Friday. CFTC/
"Gold continues to get appraised against the U.S. bond
yields and what the Fed is going to do next," said AxiTrader
market strategist Stephen Innes in a note.
"So, while price action seems supportive enough to suggest a
long bias remains intact, ... market participants likely need
further evidence from the Fed Board that they are shifting to an
easing bias to push prices significantly higher."
Lower interest rates tend to increase investor interest in
non-yielding bullion.
Elsewhere, silver XAG= dipped 0.8% to $17.42 an ounce.
Platinum XPT= rose 0.2% to $877.81 and palladium XPD=
edged 0.1% higher to $1,666.87.
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Money managers' positions in COMEX gold https://tmsnrt.rs/2IvOB8i
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