Gold steadily climbs to $1310 area amid notable USD supply

   •  The USD struggles to build on the overnight gains and helps regain traction.
   •  The prevalent risk-on mood/US-China trade optimism might cap strong gains.
   •  Traders now look forward to the US economic data for some fresh impetus.

Gold edged higher through the early European trading session and is currently placed at the top end of its daily trading range, just below $1310 level. 

The precious metal managed to regain positive traction on Thursday and recovered a part of the previous session’s rejection slide from the $1315 supply zone, albeit remained well within this week's broader trading range.

The US Dollar struggled to capitalize on the overnight gains, supported by slightly better than expected US core CPI figures, and was seen as one of the key factors providing a minor lift to the dollar-denominated commodity.

The uptick, however, is likely to remain capped in wake of the prevalent risk-on mood, following more positive news on the US-China trade front, which tends to dampen the precious metal's relative safe-haven status.

On Thursday, a Bloomberg report indicated that the US President Donald Trump is considering extending the March 1 tariff deadline by 60 days. Hence, the key focus will remain on the outcome of US-China trade negotiations on Thursday and Friday.

In the meantime, today's US economic docket, highlighting the release of monthly retail sales data and PPI print, might influence the USD price dynamics, which coupled with the broader market risk-sentiment, might contribute towards producing some meaningful trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch

Any subsequent up-move might continue to confront stiff resistance near the $1315-16 region, above which the commodity is likely to aim towards testing $1321 supply zone en-route multi-month tops, around the $1326 level.

On the flip side, the $1305-04 region now seems to have emerged as immediate support and is closely followed by the key $1300 psychological mark, which if broken might prompt some additional weakness towards $1295-94 support area.