Gold slides to near four-week low, farther below $1300 mark

Gold extended its post-FOMC fall and slipped farther below the $1300 psychological mark to its lowest level in nearly four week lows. 

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced a plan to start shrinking its massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet and also signaled that it remains on track to further raise interest rates by the end of this year. 

The hawkish Fed outlook pushed the US Treasury bond yields sharply higher and boosted the US Dollar, which eventually curbed demand for dollar-denominated commodities - like gold.

Against the backdrop of easing geopolitical tensions, a modest uptick in European equity markets further dampened demand for traditional safe-haven assets and did little to stall the precious metal's slide to the lowest level since August 28.

In absence of any major market moving economic releases from the US, increasing prospects of a December Fed rate hike move should continue to drive flows away from the non-yielding commodity and cap any immediate swift recovery. 

   •  Fed clearly signalled its bias toward hiking rates one more time this year - BBH

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near $1290 level, below which the metal is likely to accelerate the slide towards $1284-83 intermediate support en-route $1281-80 area.

On the upside, any recovery attempts above $1295 level might now confront strong hurdle near the $1300 handle, which if cleared could lift the metal back towards $1308 horizontal resistance.