Gold prices stay above $1,680 as risk-tone dwindles amid quiet markets

• Gold prices recover the early-day declines amid fresh risk aversion.
• Upbeat numbers from China, South Korea and Germany fail to cover pessimism concerning the US.
• A light economic calendar keeps virus updates as the key.

Despite marking no major gains on a day, Gold prices extend the latest recovery moves from $1,680 while taking rounds to $1,684 by the press time of early Monday. Although receding risks of coronavirus from the earlier hotspots seem to have weighed on the bullion, the challenges to the US are likely favoring the market’s rush to risk-safety. Even so, the Easter Monday holiday in major countries seems to limit the safe-havens moves.

China’s Hubei registers one more day without any fresh cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) whereas South Korea’s pandemic cases recently dropped to the seven-week low. Further, data from Germany also cites the three-week low in the daily rise while adding 2,537 fresh cases to 123,016 on April 13.

On the other hand, the numbers of cases from the US have crossed 556,000 mark, as per CNN, while the death toll rose to 22,073 according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

While citing the fears of the pandemic outbreak, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari earlier said that the US economy faces 'long, hard road' to recover from coronavirus.

To portray the risk aversion, the US stock futures register more than 1.0% losses by the press time whereas Japan’s NIKKEI also declines 1.50% to 19,070 by the time of writing.

Even if a lack of major data/events could keep gold trading choppy, risk aversion could keep the buyers hopeful. It should also be noted that the US dollar has recently witnessed a pullback and could challenge the buyers.

Technical analysis

An ascending trend line from March 20, currently near $1,680, could keep short-term declines limited. Meanwhile, buyers await a clear break above $1,700 to question the previous month high surrounding $1,703.