Gold trades with modest losses, below $1950 level

• Gold edged lower on Friday amid receding demand for traditional safe-haven assets.
• A combination of factors helped limit any deeper losses, at least for the time being.
• Investors now eye US macro data for some impetus ahead of the US-China meeting.

Gold traded with a mild negative bias through the early European session and was last seen hovering near the lower end of its daily range, around the $1945 region.

The precious metal met with some fresh supply on the last day of the week and eroded a part of the previous day’s positive move, albeit lacked any strong follow-through selling. Emerging signs of the US economic recovery, coupled with the latest optimism over a potential vaccine for the highly contagious coronavirus disease dented the commodity’s perceived safe-haven status.

However, the emergence of some fresh selling around the US dollar, amid the impasse over the next round of the US fiscal stimulus measures, extended some support to the dollar-denominated commodity. The greenback was further pressured by a fresh leg down in the US Treasury bond yields, which further contributed towards limiting any meaningful slide for the non-yielding yellow metal.

Market participants now look forward to the US economic docket, highlighting the release of monthly Retail Sales and Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for August. The data might influence the USD price dynamics and produce some meaningful trading opportunities. However, the key focus will remain on a crucial weekend meeting between the US and Chinese trade officials.

Technical levels to watch