Pretty mixed sentiment heading into the EU open

New York (Nov 13)  Gold (0.13%) is still holding firm above the $1848.66 per ounce consolidation low this morning. In the grand scheme of things this move higher during the Asian session is still very small compared to the drop the market witnessed on Monday following Pfizer's vaccine announcement. Silver is trading just under flat and seems to be stuck in a sideways range. This is very evident on the hourly chart as the price has been oscillating between $23.55 and $24.49 since the aforementioned Pfizer news on Monday.

The risk sentiment in the Asian session was pretty negative as all the major bourses closed in the red. The Nikkei 225 fell just over half a percent, Australia's ASX lost 0.20% and the Shanghai Composite was the main laggard dropping 0.86%. On the plus side, Chinese tech firm Tencent bucked the trend, and surged 3.29% in Hong Kong.

In terms of news from the Asian session, Chinese politics dominated the wires. First up, Australian federal officials now say they are ready to engage with China on current issues. This has hampered trade between the two countries and could be positive for commodities trading between the two nations. Elsewhere, as China prepare to welcome the new US President the former China finance minister stated the US-China trade friction won't necessarily ease even with the new US president. A truce could have been something market participants were looking forward to and now the ex-finance minister has thrown a spanner in the works. Lastly, the US has confirmed an executive order prohibiting investments in US firms that seem to be under Chinese control or owned by the Chinese military. Tensions have been rising since political developments in Hong Kong have taken a turn for the worse.

By 08:15am EST spot gold bounced up $10 to $1,887, while spot silver jumped 43 cents to $24.67...although spot palladium slid $3 to $2,348.

KitcoNews