Gold remains confined in a near-term narrow trading range

Gold extended its consolidative price action within a 6-day old narrow trading band in a directionless trading session on Thursday. 

Currently trading around $1236-37 region, the precious metal got a minor boost on Wednesday from a modest greenback retracement after the Fed minutes failed to hint towards the timing of next interest rate-hike move, albeit did support raising rates sooner rather than later. 

Following the release of the minutes, the US Dollar declined and extended support to dollar-denominated commodities - like gold. The momentum, however, remained subdued in wake of rising stock markets, which tends to dent the yellow metal's safe-haven appeal. 

Looking at the broader picture, the metal has been confined in a narrow trading range and has been struggling for a firm near-term direction. In absence of any fresh fundamental trigger, in terms of major market moving economic releases, the commodity remains at the mercy of broader mark risk-sentiment, and the US Dollar price action.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support on the downside is pegged near $1230 level below which the metal seems to slide towards $1225 intermediate support before eventually dropping to test 100-day SMA support near $1215 region.

On the upside, sustained strength above $1240 level could lift the commodity back towards multi-month highs resistance near $1245 region, which if cleared seems to pave way for continuation of the up-move, even beyond $1250 hurdle, towards testing the very important 200-day SMA resistance near $1260-62 region.