Nov 18 (Reuters) - Gold eased on Monday, pressured by optimism over U.S.-China trade ties following a report of "constructive talks" over the weekend, but held within a tight range as caution set in with investors awaiting concrete signals on the negotiations.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= inched down 0.1% to $1,465.62 per ounce at 0157 GMT, while U.S. gold futures GCv1 were down 0.1% at$1,466.80 per ounce.
* The United States and China had a high-level phone call on Saturday, Chinese state media Xinhua said on Sunday, but it gave no further details. The two sides discussed each other's core issues for the first phase of an initial trade agreement. Asian share markets got the week off to a muted start as investors awaited real evidence on progress in the tariff war, though sentiment found support from another record close on Wall Street. MKTS/GLOB
* In Hong Kong, police on Monday trapped hundreds of protesters inside a major university and demonstrators rampaged through a tourist district, after almost two straight days of standoffs that have raised fears of a bloody showdown. Hedge funds and money managers reduced their bullish positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Nov. 12, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday. CFTC/
* U.S. retail sales rebounded moderately in October supported by the lowest unemployment rate in nearly 50 years, data showed on Friday. Australia's Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd SAR.AX said on Monday it would buy Canadian-listed Barrick Gold Corp's ABX.TO 50% stake in the Super Pit gold mine in Western Australia for $750 million. South African miner AngloGold Ashanti ANGJ.J suspended its gold mining operations in Guinea after a community protested on its Siguiri mining site, its Guinea subsidiary Societe Aurifère de Guinee (SAG) said in a statement. (GMT) 1500 US NAHB Housing Market Index