Gold hangs near one-week lows, FOMC minutes awaited

   •  Persistent USD buying keeps exerting downward pressure.
   •  Further weighed down by rising US bond yields. 
   •  FOMC meeting minutes to set the near-term trend.

Gold seemed struggling to gain any traction and remained within striking distance of one-week lows, touched earlier today.

A strong follow-through US Dollar buying interest, further supported by a positive tone surrounding the US Treasury bond yields, continues to dampen demand for dollar-denominated commodities - like gold. 

The precious metal dropped to an intraday low level of $1325 but further losses remained limited in wake of reviving safe-haven demand on the back of a sharp turnaround in European equity markets. 

The rebound, however, lacked any strong conviction amid firming expectations for a faster Fed monetary policy tightening cycle. Hence, the key focus would remain on the highly anticipated FOMC meeting minutes, which would help determine the next leg of a directional move for the non-yielding yellow metal. 

Technical levels to watch

Bears would be eyeing for a sustained break through $1325 level, below which the metal seems to extend the slide towards $1318 intermediate level en-route $1310 support. On the upside, any meaningful recovery attempt is likely to confront immediate resistance near the $1335-37 region, which if cleared might trigger a short-covering bounce back towards $1348-50 supply zone.