Gold steadily climbs to session tops, back closer to $1430 area

Gold reversed an early dip during the Asian session on Thursday and climbed to fresh session tops, around the $1427 region in the last hour.

News that North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea early on Thursday helped revive the precious metal's safe-haven demand and turned out to be one of the key factors behind the intraday uptick. 

However, the prevalent bullish sentiment surrounding the US Dollar, coupled with a positive trade-related development kept a lid on any strong follow-through move for the dollar-denominated commodity.

It is worth reporting that China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed earlier this Thursday that top US negotiators will meet their Chinese counterparts and resume in-person trade talks in Beijing on July 31-August 1.

This coupled with the fact that investors have been scaling back expectations of a 50 bps rate cut by the Fed at its upcoming meeting might further collaborate towards capping gains for the non-yielding yellow metal.

Hence, it will be prudent to wait for a strong follow-through buying beyond weekly swing high resistance near the $1430 region before traders start positioning for any further near-term appreciating move for the commodity.

Later during the early North-American session, the US economic docket - highlighting the release of durable goods orders data, might influence the USD price dynamics and assist traders to grab some short-term opportunities.

Technical levels to watch