Gold moved slightly higher in Asia on Wednesday ahead of China data sets on GDP, output and retail sales.

Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange edged up 0.06% to $1,263.65 (£1,030.33) a troy ounce. Also on the Comex, silver futures for December delivery eased 0.06% to $17.267 (£14.08) a troy ounce, while copper futures were flat at $2.102 (£1.71) a pound.

China reports third quarter GDP with a quarter-on-quarter gain of 1.8% and a year-on-year pace of 6.7% expected. As well in the Middle Kingdom, fixed asset investment is seen up 8.2% year-on-year for September and industrial production likely rose 6.4% year-on-year. Retail sales for September are seen up 10.6% year-on-year.

With nearly 45% of world consumption, China is the world’s largest copper consumer.