Gold prices inched higher on Friday on a softer dollar and caution about Sino-U.S. trade talks, while investors looked for clarity on the future path of U.S. interest rates.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,501.35 per ounce, as of 0142 GMT, adding nearly 1% so far this week in what would be its first weekly gain in four.

* U.S. gold futures were up 0.2% at $1,509.2 per ounce.

* The dollar nursed losses against most major currencies, as central banks in Switzerland and the UK refrained from following the U.S. Federal Reserve in cutting rates. * The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week, pointing to strong labour market conditions that should continue to support an economy growing at a moderate pace.

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* U.S. President Donald Trump said Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s job is safe, even though he was “not thrilled” with the central bank after it moved to lower interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday.

* The United States said on Thursday it was building a coalition to deter Iranian threats following a weekend attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.

* U.S. and Chinese deputy trade negotiators resumed face-to-face talks for the first time in nearly two months on Thursday, as the world’s two largest economies try to bridge deep policy differences and find a way out of their protracted trade war.

* The Bank of England said Brexit uncertainty and slower world economic growth were increasingly causing Britain’s economy to perform below its potential, and that a failure to reach a deal to leave the European Union by Oct. 31 would worsen the problem.

* The German economy started the third quarter on a weaker footing, the Finance Ministry said on Friday, putting the blame on a cooling global economy and uncertainties linked to Brexit and trade conflicts that are hurting exports.

* Azerbaijan’s leading gold mining company, Anglo Asian Mining, said on Thursday its gold output rose 3.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2019 to 34,349 ounces from 33,255 ounces.