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

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