Gold and silver fell sharply in the futures market on Monday as optimism over a potential US-China trade deal and a strong dollar weighed on the safe-haven assets.
In Oman, 24-karat gold traded at 51.2540, while RO22-karat dropped to RO47.850, and 18-karat dropped to RO38.100
Safe-haven gold and bonds retreated as signs of cooling trade tensions encouraged investors, marking a strong start to a week dominated by central bank meetings and megacap earnings.
Top Chinese and U.S. economic officials on Sunday hashed out the framework of a trade deal for U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to decide on later this week at a meeting in South Korea.
A trade deal would pause steeper U.S. tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, helping ease some concerns among investors that a trade truce between the world's two largest economies might break down.
"If a deal is done based on today’s reported details, the yuan has scope for further gains," MUFG head of research Derek Halpenny said.
"Better risk conditions and some improvement in global growth expectations should result in the U.S. dollar weakening as investors look at better prospects for non-dollar currencies," he said.
Safe-haven gold fell 1.3% to $4,058 an ounce, while U.S. Treasury prices also eased, leaving the benchmark 10-year bond yield up 3.1 basis points at 4.027%.
Investor focus this week will also be on central bank meetings in Japan, Canada, Europe, and the United States.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points after data showed U.S. consumer prices increased slightly less than expected in September, but the government shutdown and its impact on data remain a concern.
The dollar was slightly higher at 152.87 yen, hovering near a two-week high. The euro was flat at $1.16277. The dollar index was flat at 98.92.
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