Gold jumps to fresh 3-week tops, around $1360 level

   •  A broadly weaker USD continues aiding sentiment.
   •  Further benefits from growing demand as a hedge against inflation. 

Gold continued gaining positive traction for the fifth consecutive session on Friday and moved within striking distance of multi-month tops, set in January. 

Despite stronger incoming US economic data, the US Dollar languished near three-year lows and was seen underpinning demand for dollar-denominated commodities - like gold. 

Meanwhile, growing demand as a hedge against rising inflationary pressure further aided sentiment surrounding the precious metal and remained supportive of the up-move through the early European session.

Bulls seemed to have largely ignored a goodish uptick in the US Treasury bond yields did little to drive flows away from the non-yielding commodity. Even the prevalent risk-on mood, which tends to weigh on traditional safe-haven assets, failed to hinders the yellow metal's up-move to a fresh three-week high. 

Later during the early NA session, the US economic docket, featuring the release of housing market data and Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment might now be looked upon to grab some short-term trading opportunities. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance is pegged near $1366 level (January high), above which the momentum is likely to get extended towards $1374-75 supply zone. On the flip side, any meaningful retracement is likely to find support near the $1352-50 region, which if broken might prompt some additional weakness back towards $1340 support area.