Gold holds steady near $1425 area, focus remains on FOMC/US-China trade talks

The USD remains supported by rising US bond yields and exerts some pressure.
US-China trade optimism further dents the commodity’s relative safe-haven status.
The key focus will remain on the latest FOMC policy decision, due on Wednesday.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

Gold struggled to capitalize on the overnight goodish up-move and traded with a mild negative bias through the early European session on Tuesday.

The precious metal failed to build on its modest uptick witnessed over the past two trading session and was now being weighed down by a combination of negative factors - including the prevalent bullish sentiment surrounding the US Dollar and improving global risk sentiment.

The greenback remained well supported near two-month tops amid a pickup in the US Treasury bond yields and exerted some pressure on the dollar-denominated commodity. This coupled with optimism over a possible resolution of the prolonged US-China trade disputes further dented the precious metal's relative safe-haven status.

The downside, however, remained cushioned ahead of the highly anticipated FOMC monetary policy decision, scheduled to be announced on Wednesday and should play a key role in determining the next leg of a directional move for the non-yielding yellow metal.

Adding to this, fresh trade-related headlines coming out of the high-level trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies might further influence the broader market risk sentiment and collaborate towards producing some meaningful trading opportunities.

Apart from this, Tuesday's US economic docket - featuring the releases of Personal Income and Spending data, the core PCE price index (the Fed's preferred inflation gauge) and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index will be looked upon for some impetus later during the early North-American session.

Technical levels to watch

XAU/USD

Overview
Today last price	1425.2
Today Daily Change	-1.70
Today Daily Change %	-0.12
Today daily open	1426.9

Trends
Daily SMA20	1416.59
Daily SMA50	1370.04
Daily SMA100	1330.64
Daily SMA200	1299.21

Levels
Previous Daily High	1428.2
Previous Daily Low	1415.9
Previous Weekly High	1433.6
Previous Weekly Low	1411.26
Previous Monthly High	1438.66
Previous Monthly Low	1306.18
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	1423.5
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	1420.6
Daily Pivot Point S1	1419.13
Daily Pivot Point S2	1411.37
Daily Pivot Point S3	1406.83
Daily Pivot Point R1	1431.43
Daily Pivot Point R2	1435.97
Daily Pivot Point R3	1443.73

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

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