Gold hangs near one-month lows amid stronger USD and easing geopolitical worries

Gold came under some renewed selling pressure on Monday and eroded majority of Friday's tepid recovery gains from near four-week lows.

Currently trading around $1292 level, off session lows touched earlier during Asian session, the precious metal was being weighed down by a modest pickup in the US Dollar demand. 

The latest news report, via Washington Post, that the GOP leaders are quietly circulating proposals to lower the corporate tax and the top individual income tax rates, provided a minor boost to the greenback at the start of a new trading week and was seen weighing on dollar-denominated commodities - like gold.

   •  GOP leaders circulating proposals to cut the corporate tax rate to 20%

Adding to this, easing concerns over the Korean peninsula further dented the yellow metal's safe-haven appeal and collaborated to the offered tone through early European session on Monday.

Against the backdrop of last week's hawkish Fed outlook and in absence of any major market moving economic releases, today's speeches from influential FOMC members would drive rate hike expectations and provide some fresh impetus for the non-yielding commodity

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained weakness below $1290 area, the commodity seems vulnerable to extend its downfall towards $1284 horizontal support en-route $1280 level. On the flip side, $1295-95 zone now seems to have emerged as immediate strong hurdle, above which a bout of short-covering could lift the metal back above the $1300 handle towards its next major hurdle near $1208 level.