Gold prices were up in midday US trade on Monday, but still considerably below their earlier session highs, as the stock market in the US continues to surge.

The significant losses in the US dollar index, which hit a four-week low on Tuesday, were helping to strengthen the metal on Tuesday, Kitco reported.

As the market awaited the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s May policy meeting on Thursday, gold prices fell from $1,785 to $1,865 per ounce.

Another angle to see the gold market this week, trader and investor risk appetite up-ticked a little to start the trading week on reports the US may consider lifting some trade tariffs on China, according to Kitco.

These could be at least partly lifted to ease the financial burden on companies and consumers, reported the New York Times.

US President Joe Biden has been on an Asian tour, and on Monday laid out a new economic cooperation platform – the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, Kitco added.

This is meant to reintroduce an American influence in the region five years after former President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, granting China sole dominance over the Asian economic sphere, reported Impakter magazine.

The new alliance will bring the US together with 12 other Asia Pacific nations – Japan, South Korea, Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – making up 40 per cent of the world’s economy.

Technically, the daily bar chart shows that the gold price is continuing in a downtrend. The bears have a technical lead in the short run.

However, if prices rise more this week, the downtrend will most certainly be reversed. First resistance was seen at Tuesday’s high of $1,865 and then at $1,875. First support was seen at Tuesday’s low of $1,843 and then at Friday’s low of $1,830.