Gold flirts with session lows, around $1890 level

• A combination of factors prompted some fresh selling around the safe-haven commodity.
• Trump’s improving health boosted the risk sentiment and weighed on safe-haven assets.

Gold edged lower through the early European session and refreshed daily lows, around the $1887 region in the last hour.

The precious metal witnessed some selling on the first day of a new trading week and extended the previous session’s modest pullback from eight-day tops, around the $1917 region. The downtick was sponsored by the upbeat market mood, which tends to undermine demand for traditional safe-haven assets, including gold.

The global risk sentiment got a strong lift on the back of positive news about the US President Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection. Doctors said that Trump has responded well and could return to the White House on Monday, easing some of the political uncertainty that spooked investors and triggered the risk-off mood on Friday.

The risk-on flow – as depicted by firmer trading in the equity markets – was further reinforced by a goodish pickup in the US Treasury bond yields. This, in turn, exerted some additional pressure on the non-yielding yellow metal. However, a subdued US dollar price action helped limit any deeper losses for the dollar-denominated commodity.

Market participants now look forward to the US economic docket, highlighting the release of ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI. This, along with the broader market risk sentiment and the USD price dynamics, will assist traders to grab some short-term trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch