Gold Price Analysis: XAU/USD holds steady above $1930 level, lacks follow-through

Gold edged higher on Tuesday, albeit lacked any strong follow-through and held well within a four-day-old trading range.

The precious metal stalled the previous day's sharp intraday retracement slide from multi-day tops and managed to find some support near the $1924 region. The emergence of some fresh selling around the US dollar was seen as one of the key factors that benefitted the dollar-denominated commodity.

However, a combination of factors held investors from placing any aggressive bullish bets and kept a lid on any meaningful positive move. The global risk sentiment remained well supported by the latest optimism over a potential vaccine and treatment for the highly contagious coronavirus disease.

This coupled with the positive news on the US-China trade relations further boosted investors' confidence. In fact, the US Trade Representative’s Office said in a statement that both the US and China see progress made on resolving issues in the phase-one trade deal between the two countries.

The risk-on flow was reinforced by a pickup in the US Treasury bond yields. Apart from this, investors' reluctance to place any aggressive bets ahead of the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium further contributed towards capping the non-yielding yellow metal.

This makes it prudent to wait for some strong follow-through buying before positioning for any further near-term appreciating move. In the meantime, Tuesday's release of the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index will be looked upon for some short-term trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch