Gold prices inched up on Thursday as a dip in Asian equities and worries about a sharp global economic slowdown propelled demand for safer investments.

FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold gained about 0.2 per cent to $1,286.62 per ounce at 0107 GMT, having earlier touched its highest since June 15 at $1,290.09. US gold futures were up 0.4 per cent at $1,288.80 per ounce.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was hovering about a one-week peak touched in the previous session.

A meeting between US congressional leaders and President Donald Trump on Wednesday yielded no sign of an agreement to end a partial government shutdown, now in its 12th day, as the president stuck to his demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall.

Trump has asked leaders to return to the White House on Friday for talks aimed at ending the partial government shutdown, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday.

Trump said on Wednesday he had received a "great" letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and would probably meet him again in the not-too-distant future as part of efforts to persuade him to give up his nuclear weapons.

Businesses in Britain's dominant services sector reported the slowest sales growth in two years during the final three months of 2018, another sign of a slowing economy ahead of Brexit, the British Chambers of Commerce said on Thursday. SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.97 percent to 795.31 tonnes on Wednesday from 787.67 tonnes on Monday.