KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 -- Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended lower today as the stronger US dollar mitigated demand for the precious metal.

 Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Ong Su Lin said gold prices were likely to move in consolidation going forward due to the uncertainty over the US-China trade war.

Currently, she said, the market focus was on the US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting starting on Tuesday for cues on its monetary policy.

“The central bank is expected to highlight the economy's resilience and keep interest rates on hold in the range of 1.50 per cent to 1.75 per cent,” she told Bernama.

Meanwhile, the benchmark New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX gold futures market rose on investors’ demand for safe haven assets due to a possible escalation in the US-China trade dispute ahead of a Dec 15 deadline for fresh US tariffs.

At the close, December 2019, January 2020, February 2020 and March 2020 were all 26 ticks lower at RM196.20, RM196.20, RM196.80 and RM198.40 a gramme, respectively. 

Volume remained nil, while open interest was unchanged at Friday’s 133 contracts.

At 5 pm, the price of physical gold was down RM1.55 to RM189.22 a gramme.

-- BERNAMA