Gold slips as U.S-China trade war put 'on hold'

BENGALURU, May 21 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged down on Monday as the dollar rose and demand for safe-haven assets eased after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. trade war with China was "on hold". FUNDAMENTALS * Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,289.30 per ounce at 0059 GMT. * U.S. gold futures for June delivery were 0.2-percent lower at $1,289.20 per ounce. * The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit a five-month high of 93.860 early Monday. * U.S. stock futures jumped on Monday as Mnuchin said the U.S. trade war with China was "on hold" after the world's two largest economic powers agreed to drop their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement. * Mnuchin and U.S. President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said the agreement reached by Chinese and American negotiators on Saturday set up a framework for addressing trade imbalances in the future. * Italy's two anti-establishment parties promised on Friday to ramp up spending in a programme for a new coalition government, putting them on a collision course with the European Union despite having dropped some of their most radical proposals. * The EU is not doing enough to preserve the benefits for Iran from the 2015 international nuclear pact following the withdrawal of the United States, Iran's foreign minister told the EU's energy chief on Sunday. * SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.10 percent to 855.28 tonnes on Friday from 856.17 tonnes on Thursday. * Hedge funds and money managers cut their net long position in COMEX gold contracts in the week to May 15, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday. * Gold discounts in India widened to the highest level in nearly two months this week due to sluggish demand amid high local rates, while buying in other major Asian centres ticked up as global prices slid to 2018 lows. DATA/EVENT AHEAD (GMT) 1230 U.S. National activity index Apr (Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Joseph Radford)

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