Gold prices traded near flat on Wednesday in Asia, while equities were mixed amid lingering recession fears.
Gold Futures traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was unchanged at $1,321.35 per ounce by 1:43 AM ET (05:43 GMT).
Equities and other risk assets struggled since last Friday after the spreads between U.S. 3-month and 10-year Treasury yields inverted, a sign of a potential recession.
Meanwhile, the safe-haven gold rallied on Monday but gave back some of its gains the previous day as sentiment recovered somewhat.
“Investors are very cautious on Treasury yield curve inversion, which had proven many times as early signal for a recession,” said Margaret Yang, a market analyst with CMC Markets, Singapore, in a Reuters report.
Traders are also closely monitoring developments in Brexit and Sino-U.S. trade talks, as they might increase bullion’s safe-haven appeal depending on the outcome.
The latest round of trade negotiations is scheduled to start on Thursday this week, while the next Brexit vote is due later in the day.
Elsewhere, U.S. housing starts fell 8.7%, the second-biggest monthly decline since November 2016, the Commerce Department said overnight.
The weak data had little impact on the dollar and gold prices. The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies last traded at 96.405, up 0.2%.
