Gold continues to move sideways below $1300

• Wall Street trades mixed on Tuesday.
• USTR Lighthizer notes that they are close to an agreement with China on currency issues.
• US Dollar Index stays above 97.

The XAU/USD pair failed to break above the $1300 handle for the third straight trading  day on Tuesday and continues to fluctuate in a tight range below that level. As of writing, the pair was up 0.25% on the day at $1297.

Earlier in the session, the U.S. Bureau  of Labor Statistics reported that inflation, as measured by the core Consumer Price Index, rose 2.1% on a yearly basis in February and fell short of the market expectation of 2.2% to weigh on the greenback. Following a climb to a daily high near 97.30, the US Dollar Index retraced its daily upside and was last seen moving sideways a little above the 97 mark, where it was virtually unchanged on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, major equity indexes in the U.S. started the day in a relatively quiet manner and are now trading mixed to reflect a neutral market sentiment with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting small losses and the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 gaining around 0.5%. Although the U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer today said that they were very close to an agreement with China on currency issues, he further noted that the U.S. had to “keep the tariff option” to enforce a trade deal with China.

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