Gold continues to move sideways near $1,520 handle

• Mixed market sentiment limits gold's gains on Thursday.
• US Dollar Index breaks above the 98 mark in NA session.
• China vows to counter US tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports.

Despite today's mixed headlines surrounding the US-China trade dispute, major equity indexes in the US started the day modestly higher and the 10-year US Treasury bond yield pulled away from the multi-year lows that it touched earlier in the day. Although the market action today wasn't strong enough to suggest a shift in the risk sentiment, traditional safe-haven gold struggled to preserve its bullish momentum. As of writing, the XAU/USD pair was trading a little above the $1,520 handle, adding 0.25% on the day.

Trade tensions remain high ahead of September talks

The Chinese finance ministry today voiced its commitment to counter the additional 10% US tariffs on some Chinese imports that are scheduled to go into effect on September 1 and noted that the US decision violated the consensus reached between President Xi and President Trump at the G20 summit back in late June.

However, in a separate statement later in the day, “We hope the US will meet China halfway, and implement the consensus of the two heads of the two countries in Osaka,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said to show China's willingness to make a deal.

Meanwhile, today's data from the US showed that retail sales in July increased by 0.7% on a monthly basis in July to come in better than the market expectation of 0.3% and helped the Greenback gather strength. With the US Dollar Index climbing to its highest level in nearly two weeks at 98.24, the pair stayed in its range. At the moment, the index is up 0.23% on the day at 98.18.

Technical levels to watch for