Gold settles higher as dollar backs off two-week high

Gold futures tilted higher in Asian trade as the dollar index slipped away from October 9 highs, when it touched August 20 highs, amid a lack of US data today. 

As of 04:39 GMT, gold futures due in December rose 0.21% to $1,231.30 an ounce, while the dollar index inched down 0.06% to 95.66 away from two-week highs. 

Chinese data released last week showed the seasonally adjusted reading for third-quarter GDP growth down to 1.6% as expected from 1.8%, and also down to 6.5% y/y from 6.7%, the slowest such pace since the financial crisis. 

The unemployment rate fell to 4.9% from 5% in August, while retail sales rose 9.2% y/y, as industrial production slowed down to 5.8% from 6%. 

The Federal Reserve recently released the minutes of its September 25-26 meeting, at which the Federal Open Market Committee voted to increase interest rates by 25 basis points for the third time this year to just below 2.25% as expected, while carrying on plans to normalize the balance sheet. 

The Fed forecast another rate hike this year, and three more next year, and another in 2020, as the economy blisters ahead. 

Now markets await US GDP data later this week, expected to clock in a slowed down growth rate at 3.3% from 4.2% in the second quarter, while GDP prices are estimated at 2.3%, down from 3.0% in the second quarter. 

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecasts for global growth for this year and the next for the first time in two years, with US and Chinese economies the most important downgrades alongside the euro zone due to rising trade protectionism.