The yellow metal came out strong on Monday after discussions of China's restlessness over US President Donald Trump's impeachment proceedings burst the much-hyped US-China trade bubble.
All bullion and gold futures rallied from their Friday fall to try to return to the $1,480 mark, and the broader $1,500 aim persisted across markets as a risk-off mode.
Nonetheless, Wall Street indexes set new heights after the Trump administration granted US firms a 90-day extension to do trading with Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Gold contracts on the New York COMEX for December settled up $3.40, or 0.2 percent, at $1,471.90 an ounce. Spot gold, monitoring live bullion transactions, was up $4.16, or 0.3 percent at $1,471.28.
The rise in gold came after CNBC quoted a source in China stating that Beijing was willing to make no further compromises in the near-term negotiations and that they wanted to watch and see how the impeachment proceedings against Trump took place.
If substantiated, this would reduce the odds of the Phase One trade deal that was publicly discussed by both parties but frequently pushed back due to documented disagreements on issues ranging from tariffs to intellectual property rights.
On Friday, there was a feeling that the trade talks were going for a "positive course," but then it fell through with the Chinese's new pessimism, said Eric Scoles, precious metals strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago.
"Honestly, all that is yanking gold around is the back-and-forth of trade talks. In reality, the bulls want to get the market back to $1,480, although the ceiling now seems to be $1,475.
Last week, gold plummeted when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow indicated the US and China are closing in on a settlement, bringing the three major stock markets to record highs on Wall Street.
Gold slid off the larger $1,500 level in the past week after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested the third consecutive interest rate reduction last month by the US central bank would be it is last for 2019.
Gold prices climbed above the support near the moving average of 10 days at 1,468, but still faces a difficult task in eclipsing the moving average of 1,479 for 100 days.
The precious metal has bounced back from its weakness and the solid flow of customers has coincided with a steep decline in US 10-year Treasury yields, which are pegged at almost 2 percent.
Gold is seen above the 10-day moving average and then highs at 1,445 in November and then lows at 1,426 in October.
