London — Gold prices held steady on Thursday after an upbeat assessment of the US economy by the Federal Reserve and new trade tensions between Washington and Beijing boosted the dollar and US bond yields. Gold has slumped 11% since April to its lowest in a year as rising US interest rates and the perception that trade wars will damage the US less than other nations pushed the dollar higher. The stronger dollar hurts gold because it makes bullion more expensive for buyers with other currencies. Higher bond yields meanwhile make non-yielding gold less attractive to investors. "It looks like gold doesn’t want to go lower at the moment," said ABN AMRO analyst Georgette Boele. "We are in territory — $1,200 to $1,220 an ounce — where we should start to bottom out." Spot gold was flat at $1,215.81 an ounce at 10.49am GMT, near a one-year low of $1,211 from July 19, with the dollar 0.3% higher against a basket of currencies. US gold futures were down 0.3% at $1,224 an ounce. Gold was helpe...
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