Gold is sticking to a range of $1,190-$1,220 Thursday in Asia, said a Singapore-based trader at international bank, despite the U.S. dollar’s rally. The dollar was sharply higher against the yuan Thursday after China’s central bank set the dollar-yuan central parity rate at a seven-week high following the U.S. unit’s broad strength against most major currencies overnight, amid concerns about a weakening global economic recovery. “Everything else is coming down but gold is holding steady despite the dollar rally so that’s positive,” the trader said. He added that markets in Asia aren’t particularly active today. There is some physical demand, the trader said, but it was just routine buying, not indicative of any break either way. Spot gold was at $1,198.60 per troy ounce, up 70 cents from its close in New York. Gold in euros has rallied 2.5% this week to 930 euros per ounce as the euro has slumped to $1.2889 from $1.3287 at Monday’s open.

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