Gold consolidates in a range near weekly tops, comfortably above $1400 mark

Gold held on to its mildly positive tone through the early European session and is currently placed just below weekly tops, set earlier this Thursday.

The precious metal edged higher for the third consecutive session on Thursday and built on the overnight good up-move, triggered by the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's dovish remarks and further fueled by June FOMC meeting minutes.

In the prepared statement for the semi-annual Congressional testimony on Wednesday, Powell said that uncertainties continue to dim the outlook and reiterated that the central bank will act as appropriate to sustain the US economic growth.

Adding to this, the minutes from the Fed's policy meeting held in June pivoted to an easing stance and revived speculations of an aggressive rate cut, which turned out to be one of the key factors that benefitted the non-yielding yellow metal.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar also weakened across the board in tandem with a sharp slide in the US Treasury bond yields and provided an additional boost/remained supportive of the bid tone surrounding the dollar-denominated commodity.

However, a positive tone around equity markets undermined the precious metal's safe-haven demand and kept a lid on any runaway rally ahead of Thursday's important release of the latest US consumer inflation figures, due later during the early North-American session.

Technical levels to watch