Gold futures settled Monday with only a modest loss, after touching their lowest intraday levels of the year, as the U.S. dollar pared earlier gains on easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

June gold US:GCM8 fell by 40 cents, or 0.03%, to settle at $1,290.90 an ounce. It had traded as low as $1,281.20, the lowest intraday level since December of last year. July silver US:SIN8, meanwhile, tacked on 0.4% to $16.52 an ounce.

Gold’s moves followed a weekly drop of 2.2%. Last week’s slump was highlighted by a Thursday settlement at $1,289.40 an ounce—the lowest finish for a most-active contract since December.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that the Trump administration would “put the trade war on hold,” and delay tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S., while the two countries hammer out details of a deal to reduce the trade deficit with China.

At the end of trade negotiations during the past weekend, Beijing reportedly agreed to buy larger amounts of American goods to help cut the deficit, but didn’t agree to a specific U.S. target of $200 billion. China is estimated to have a $375 billion annual trade surplus with the U.S.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer seemed to contradict Mnuchin, but markets largely appear focused on the Treasury secretary’s remarks.

“China has apparently agreed to import more U.S. goods in order to close the $335 billion trade deficit for the U.S.,” said Richard Perry, a Hantec Markets analyst, in a note. “Market reaction has been very risk-positive and dollar-positive, driving Treasury yields back higher, gold into retreat, equity markets higher and the dollar also stronger.”

See:‘Sense of relief in equity markets is palpable’—analysts assess U.S.-China trade truce

The benchmark index for the U.S. dollar touched its best level since late last year, but gave up much of its gains by the time gold futures settled. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.08% was up less than 0.1% at 93.69, down from a high of 94.058. Moves in the dollar can influence gold because the precious metal is traded in the greenback.

“The U.S. currency has been benefiting mainly from improved economic prospects and higher interest rates,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM. “Whether the upward trajectory will resume in the short run, is likely to depend on the FOMC minutes scheduled for release on Wednesday.”

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“Whether the Fed is prepared to fight inflation, or whether it will be more cautious about raising rates too quickly, will be reflected in the minutes,” he said.

Stocks in the U.S. and Europe climbed, and Asia’s equities mostly closed with gains, drawing some attention away from haven gold. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield TMUBMUSD10Y, 0.674% held near a seven-year high, but moderated its pace of ascent.

While the attention is on the impact of a China trade pact, “the bigger picture” is looking at the 10-year Treasury yield, said Jeff Wright, executive vice president at GoldMining Inc. “This is what is hurting gold more than anything past week or so.”

“Equity markets rising are sucking oxygen away from gold trade, but that could easily change,” he added.

Other metals finished higher, with July copper US:HGN8 up 1.1% at $3.099 a pound, July platinum US:PLN8 added 1.5% at $899.80 an ounce and June palladium US:PAM8 settled at $990.40 an ounce, up nearly 3.2%.