Gold steadily climbs to session tops, above $1320 level amid risk-off mood

   “¢   The USD struggles to build on the overnight bounce and helps regain traction.
   “¢   US-China trade uncertainty/risk-off mood further underpin safe-haven demand.
   “¢   Market participants now eye US Q4 GDP print for some meaningful impetus.

Gold finally broke out of its Asian session consolidation phase and is currently placed at the top end of its daily trading range, just above $1320 level.

The precious metal lacked any firm directional bias and was seen consolidating the overnight slump to over one-week lows. A strong upsurge in the US Treasury bond yields helped the US Dollar to bounce off three-week lows on Wednesday and prompted some fresh selling around the dollar-denominated commodity.

The greenback, however, struggled to build on the previous session’s gains, which coupled with a fresh wave of global risk-aversion trade, amid escalating geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan, extended some support to the precious metal’s safe-haven status and helped limit any further losses, at least for now.

Adding to this, dismal Chinese data, showing that the manufacturing sector moved deeper into contraction territory, provided further evidence that US-China trade dispute was taking a toll on the global economic growth and extended some additional support, though lacked any strong bullish conviction.  

Market participants now look forward to the US economic docket, highlighting the release of advance Q4 GDP growth figures and the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation – core PCE, which along with second-tier US data might produce some meaningful trading opportunities later during the early North-American session.  

Technical levels to watch

Any subsequent up-move is likely to confront some fresh supply near the $1329-30 zone, above which the commodity is likely to accelerate the momentum further towards testing its next major hurdle near the $1341-42 region. On the flip side, the $1317-16 region might continue to act as immediate support, which if broken might turn the metal vulnerable to head back towards testing the $1305 intermediate support en-route the key $1300 psychological mark.