PRECIOUS-Gold Gold prices increase slightly, but the Fed's attitude limits its progression

Feb. 22 (Reuters) – Gold edged up on Friday as optimism over US-China trade talks put pressure on the dollar, but promising signs from the US Federal Reserve could raise rates of interest this year, while keeping prices below the highs reached this week.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold rose 0.11% to $ 1,324.63 an ounce around 00:53 GMT, after hitting its highest record for 10 months on Wednesday at $ 1,346.73.

* US gold futures remained stable at $ 1,327.5 per ounce.

* The dollar index versus a basket of six major currencies was little changed at 96.582, after a slight rise of about 0.15% overnight, when long-term Treasury yields have risen. hit a one – week high with the announcement of progress in trade negotiations between the United States and China.

* Leading US and Chinese negotiators resumed Thursday high-level talks to reach an agreement likely to end their trade war, a little more than a week before the deadline imposed by the United States to reach an agreement and trigger a new round of tariffs.

* At the same time, in the minutes of its meeting on January 29 and 30, the Fed said the US economy and its labor market remain solid, which has sparked some rising expectations of at least another rate this year. Higher rates tend to weigh on nonproductive gold.

* US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold their second summit in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, on February 27-28.

Britain and the European Union on Thursday downplayed the chances of reaching an immediate divorce deal, but diplomats have moved closer to a legal compromise that Prime Minister Theresa May hopes to prevail over. on the British Parliament.

* Russia increased its gold holdings by 6.2 tons in January – IMF.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund in the world, said its holdings fell 0.63% to 789.51 tonnes on Thursday from 794.50 tonnes on Wednesday.

* US gold mining company Newmont Mining Corp surpbaded badysts' estimates for quarterly earnings on Thursday, spurred by increased gold production in its Colorado and Ghana mines and reduced costs.

* Workers led by the South African Association of Miners and Construction (AMCU) plan to lower gold and platinum mining tools next week to help colleagues in Sibanye-Stillwater who are on strike for wages and job cuts.

* Largest gold mining and undeveloped copper project in the world, planned in southwestern Alaska, near the world's largest sockeye fishery, has taken an additional step in its approval on Wednesday, after the US Army Corps of Engineers issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement.

DATA AHEAD (GMT) 0700 GDP in Germany T4 Detailed 0900 * Germany Ifo Business Climate New Feb. 0900 * Germany Ifo Current conditions News Feb 0900 * Germany Hopes Ifo new Feb. 1000 Euro area HICP Final Jan 1100 CBI distribution operations in the United Kingdom Feb. Vice President of the US Federal Reserve Richard Clarida addresses the 2019 Monetary Policy Forum in New York (report by Karthika Suresh Namboothiri in Bangalore, edited by Joseph Radford)