Gold steady as dollar softens versus stabilising yen

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices were steady early on Wednesday, after rising in the previous session, as the U.S. dollar softened against China's yuan and the euro.

FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold was unchanged at $1,210.91 an ounce at 0043 GMT, after rising 0.4 percent in the previous session.

U.S. gold futures were up 0.1 pct at $1219.4 an ounce.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.1 percent at 95.133.

Asian shares rose on Wednesday on the back of firmer Wall Street earnings while expectations for increased Chinese stimulus helped take the edge off wider concerns about the worsening Sino-U.S. trade dispute.

The United States will begin collecting 25 percent tariffs on another $16 billion in Chinese goods on Aug. 23, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Tuesday as it published a final tariff list targeting 279 imported product lines.

Companies doing business with Iran will be barred from the United States, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, as new U.S. sanctions took effect despite pleas from Washington's allies.

U.S. job openings held near record highs in June amid a modest decline in hiring, pointing to a further tightening of labour market conditions, which economists hope will soon spur faster wage growth.

The prospect of a "no-deal Brexit" appears to have grown after the European Union's negotiator rejected last month central elements of Prime Minister Theresa May's proposals for a new trade agreement.

The European Parliament has agreed to ease tough new liquidity rules for banks trading gold, marking a success for the London Bullion Market Association's (LBMA) campaign to revise the plans.

Gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw outflows in North America, Europe and Asia in July as a strong U.S. dollar helped weaken gold prices, the World Gold Council said on Tuesday.

SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.15 percent to 787.53 tonnes on Tuesday from 788.71 tonnes on Monday.

(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru)