2019.12.1309:30:00UTC+00Gold Edges Up On Weak Dollar

Gold prices were higher on Friday as a weaker U.S. dollar offset reports of a breakthrough in Sino-U.S. trade negotiations and the Conservative Party's emphatic victory in the U.K. general election.

Spot gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,471.85 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were up 0.25 percent at $1,476.05.

The British pound soared against the dollar and the euro after the ruling Conservative party secured a landslide victory in the U.K. snap election, ending the Parliamentary deadlock and making it possible to deliver Brexit by the end of January.

The results suggest that PM Johnson could push his Brexit deal through Parliament and take the United Kingdom out of the European Union by the January deadline.

The outcome is likely to bring an end to the Brexit deadlock in Parliament that has paralyzed the country.

On the trade front, media reports suggest that Washington has offered to slash existing tariffs and cancel new ones set to take effect Sunday as part of a deal to boost Chinese purchases of U.S. farm goods and obtain other concessions.

However, both sides are yet to formally confirm the news ahead of a Sunday deadline, when new U.S. tariffs on $160 billion in Chinese goods will take effect.