2019.05.2014:44:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Marginally Higher

After falling to a fresh 2-week low earlier in the session, gold prices edged higher on Monday after equities lost ground on trade war jitters and the dollar exhibited some weakness.

However, with recent economic data such as jobless claims, consumer sentiment, housing starts and Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity suggesting that the U.S. economy is in good shape, the yellow metal's uptick was just marginal.

The dollar index, which advanced to 98.04, retreated subsequently to 97.96, losing about 0.06%.

Gold futures for June ended up $1.60, or about 1%, at $1,277.30 an ounce.

On Friday, gold futures for June settled down $10.50, or 0.8%, at $1,275.70 an ounce.

Silver futures for July ended up $0.057, at $14.445 an ounce, while Copper futures for July ended at $2.7260 per pound, down $0.0125 from previous close.

Global stocks weakened on Monday, weighed down by Google's decision to suspend business with Chinese technology major Huawei. German chipmaker Infineon Technologies suspended shipments to Huawei.

The move by these two companies follow last week's decision of the Trump administration to blacklist the Chinese firm and ban the company from buying components and technology from US firms without prior approval from the US government.

Lingering concerns about tensions in the Middle East too supported gold's uptick. U.S. President Donald Trump has served a new warning to Iran, tweeting that if the country wanted to fight, that would be Iran's "official end".

Traders largely made cautious moves today, looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's release of minutes from its last meeting.

The Fed minutes is likely to provide clues about the central bank's likely stance on interest rates for the rest of the year.