Gold flirting with lows, around $1185 ahead of US macro data

   “¢   Resurgent US bond yields prompt some fresh selling at the start of a new week.
   “¢   Risk-on mood dent safe-haven status and adds to the downward pressure.
   “¢   A mildly softer USD does little to lend any support ahead of US ISM PMI.

Gold prices edged lower at the start of a new trading week and eroded a major part of Friday’s goodish rebound from six-week lows.

With investors looking past Friday’s softer than expected US core PCE price index, resurgent US Treasury bond yields turned out to be one of the key factors prompting some fresh selling around the non-yielding yellow metal.

This coupled with a fresh wave of global risk-on trade, triggered by the new US-Canada trade deal, dented demand for traditional safe-haven assets and exerted some additional downward pressure on the precious metal.  

Meanwhile, a subdued US Dollar demand was seen as the only factor lending some support to the dollar-denominated commodity and helping limit deeper losses, at least for the time being.

Moving ahead, traders now look forward to the US economic docket, highlighting the release of ISM manufacturing PMI, in order to grab some short-term opportunities.  

The key focus, however, will be on this week’s other important US macroeconomic releases, scheduled at the start of a new month – including the keenly watched US monthly jobs report, popularly known as NFP.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near $1180 level, below which the commodity is likely to accelerate the fall further towards $1174 strong support. On the flip side, any up-move might continue to confront some fresh supply near the $1192-93 region, which if cleared might trigger a short-covering bounce back towards the key $1200 psychological mark.