Gold holds steady near $1430 area, awaits Fed for fresh directional impetus

Gold lacked any firm directional bias and seesawed between tepid gains/minor losses through the early European session on Wednesday.

After suffering some losses in the previous week, the precious metal regained some positive traction since the beginning of this week and was further supported by reviving safe-haven demand amid resurfacing trade war concerns.

As the US-China trade negotiations started in Shanghai, the US President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned China against waiting for his current presidential term to be over before finalizing a trade deal and dented the global risk sentiment.

This coupled with a modest US Dollar pullback from two-month tops provided an additional boost to the dollar-denominated commodity, albeit lacked any strong follow-through ahead of the highly anticipated FOMC policy decision.

The Fed is widely expected to cut its benchmark interest rates by at least 25 bps points and hence, the key focus will remain on the accompanying policy statement, which coupled with guidance for the rest of the year will help determine the next leg of a directional move for the non-yielding yellow metal.

Technical levels to watch