PRECIOUS-Gold slips from six year peak on Sino-U.S. trade optimism

* Platinum hits highest since February 2018
* Silver holds near three-year high touched on Wednesday
* European equities climb to fresh one-month high

(Updates prices)
By K. Sathya Narayanan
Sept 5 (Reuters) - Gold retreated on Thursday as investors
booked profits after the metal rallied to a six-year peak in the
previous session and hopes of a thaw in U.S.-China trade ties
spurred demand for riskier assets.
Spot gold XAU= fell 0.6% to $1,542.51 per ounce as of 1143
GMT, having scaled $1,557 on Wednesday, its highest since April
2013.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 dropped 0.6% to $1,551.30 per
ounce.
"The fact that they (U.S. and China) have agreed to restart
talks probably has taken a little bit of steam off gold. We saw
gold touching a high at $1,557, so it bounced down slightly;
could just be an element of profit taking," said Philip Newman,
a director at Metals Focus.
China's Commerce Ministry said its trade team would hold
talks with U.S. counterparts in mid-September in preparation for
high-level negotiations in early October, while the ministry
spokesman said Beijing opposed any escalation in the trade war.
European shares rose to a one-month high, with further
support coming from a decision by British lawmakers to vote
against a no-deal Brexit and the withdrawal of an extradition
bill that had triggered months of protests in Hong Kong.
MKTS/GLOB
However, "just because the U.S. and China have agreed to
restart talks, it doesn't detract from the extent to which that
dispute has escalated and deepened, adding to a sense that
global growth would slow," Newman said, adding there was still
tremendous uncertainty about Brexit.
Gold has jumped about 20% this year as the bruising trade
war between the world's two largest economies has sparked fears
of a deceleration in global economic growth and encouraged
interest rate cuts by major central banks around the world.
Analysts also said the likelihood of further easing in
monetary policy and negative yielding debts around the world
provided support for bullion, keeping it close to its recent
six-year peak.
Federal fund futures FEDWATCH imply traders see a 89%
chance of a 25 basis point rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve
this month.
Lower interest rates and Treasury yields reduce the
opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
Among other precious metals, silver XAG= eased about 1.7%
to $19.25 per ounce, but was near a three-year high of $19.64 it
touched in the previous session.
Platinum XPT= dipped 0.9% to $976.61, having touched its
highest since February 2018 earlier in the session, while
palladium XPD= was up 0.1% to $1,555 per ounce, holding close
to its highest in more than 1-1/2 months hit on Wednesday.