Gold slides to 3-day low, around $1460 region

• Renewed US-China trade optimism weighed on the commodity’s safe-haven status.
• A sudden pickup in the US bond yields further collaborated to the intraday downfall.
• A subdued USD price action seemed to do little to lend any support, at least for now.

Gold edged lower through the early European session on Monday and is currently placed at multi-day lows, around the $1460 region.
 
The precious metal extended last week’s late pullback from the $1474-75 supply zone and witnessed some follow-through selling at the start of a new trading week. The incoming positive trade-related headlines continued denting demand for traditional safe-haven assets and turned out to be one of the key factors weighing on gold.

Weighed down by fading safe-haven demand

In the latest development, Chinese state media Xinhua reported over the weekend that the two countries had “constructive talks” on trade in a high-level phone call on Saturday. This comes on the back of the recent comments by US officials that they were close to securing a trade deal with China and further fueled the recent trade optimism.
 
Meanwhile, the latest leg of a drop over the past hour or so could further be attributed to a sudden pickup in the US Treasury bond yields, which tend to drive flows away from the non-yielding yellow metal. However, a subdued US Dollar demand might extend some support to the dollar-denominated commodity and help limit the downside.
 
There aren’t any major market-moving economic releases due on Monday and hence, the key focus will remain on the incoming trade headlines. This coupled with the USD price dynamics and the broader market risk sentiment might further contribute towards producing some short-term trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch