Gold lacks any firm direction, stuck in a range around $1490 area

• The positive mood around equity markets weighed on traditional safe-haven assets.
• Fed rate cut expectations/subdued USD demand helped limit any meaningful downside.
• Traders now eye second-tier US economic data to grab some short-term opportunities.

Gold lacked any firm directional bias and seesawed between tepid gains/minor losses, around the $1490 region through the early European session on Thursday.
 
The precious metal failed to capitalize on the previous session’s attempted bounce from two-week lows, with a combination of diverging forces holding investors from placing any aggressive directional bets and doing little to provide any meaningful impetus.

Traders await a fresh catalyst

Against the backdrop of the recent optimism led by a partial trade deal between the world’s two largest economies, a positive mood around equity markets continued weighing on traditional safe-haven assets and turned out to be one of the key factors capping gains.
 
However, the ongoing slide in the US Treasury bond yields, amid firming market expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates further at the upcoming monetary policy meeting on October 29-30, extended some support and helped limit any further downside for the non-yielding yellow metal.
 
Adding to this, a subdued US Dollar demand further underpinned demand for the dollar-denominated commodity – Gold – and contributed to a subdued/range-bound price action on Thursday, making it prudent to wait for a sustained move in either direction before placing any short-term bets.
 
Later during the early North-American session, the US economic docket – featuring the release of Philly Fed Manufacturing Index, housing market data and industrial production figures – will now be looked upon to grab some short-term trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch