Gold holds steady around $1285 ahead of key speeches at Jackson Hole

Gold extended its range bound price-action on Friday and staged a modest recovery from the lower end of a 6-day old trading range.

Spot prices held steady near the $1286-87 region during early European session as investors refrained from placing aggressive bets ahead of the highly anticipated key central bankers' speeches at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Market participants would be looking for clues over any changes to monetary policy stance, especially from the Fed Chair Janet Yellen and the ECB President Mario Draghi, which would eventually derive demand for the non-yielding yellow metal. 

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Meanwhile, diverging factors, like concerns over the US President Donald Trump's recent comment to shut down the government, and a modest uptick in the US Dollar, coupled with improving investors’ appetite for riskier assets - like equities, has failed to provide any fresh impetus to the precious metal. 

From a technical perspective, the commodity had been ranging with a narrowing trading band, forming a symmetrical triangle on short-term charts. Hence, it would be prudent to wait for a decisive break on either side in order to confirm the metal's next leg of directional move. 

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained break below $1285 immediate support, the metal is likely to accelerate the slide towards $1280 intermediate level en-route $1274-73 important horizontal support. 

Meanwhile, on the upside, decisive strength above $1290 level would confirm a fresh bullish breakout and could possibly lift the commodity beyond the key $1300 psychological mark towards its next hurdle near the $1306-07 region.