Gold prices fell near a two-week high on Monday and the dollar weakened as investors bet that more progress will be made in US-China trade talks.

Trade negotiations

After five days of negotiations in Beijing, a White House statement pointed out that the high-level US-China trade talks last week led to "progress between the two sides," but "much work remains." The talks in Washington this week Where the two sides are competing to reach an agreement by the March 1 deadline.

Both sides expressed optimism about progress in the five-day talks last week, with President Donald Trump suggesting he might be ready to postpone the deadline for an agreement on March 1.

Federal Reserve

The Fed will release the minutes of its January monetary policy meeting on Wednesday after it surprised markets by turning to a more pessimistic view of raising interest rates for the rest of 2019. The US central bank left interest rates on January 30 and pledged to be patient as prices rose. Again, abandoning his guidance that there is a need for a "gradual" increase in interest rates.

US stock and bond markets are on a two-day official holiday on Presidents Day, to resume trading tomorrow. US stocks ended higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones gaining 1.7% to a weekly gain of 3.1%.

Precious metals trading

• Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $ 1,324.31 an ounce, just below the 9-month high of $ 1,326.30 an ounce on Jan. 31.
• Gold futures in the US were little changed at $ 1,327.45 an ounce.