- US-China trade tensions continue to benefit the commodity’s safe-haven status.
- Fed rate cut bets, weaker bond yields, subdued USD demand remained supportive.
- Technical buying on above $1248 area further accelerates the positive momentum.
Gold caught some aggressive bids in the last hour and surged to the highest level since April 2018, around the $1358 region.
The precious metal added to its recent strong gains, with a combination of supporting factors fueling the ongoing positive momentum for the third consecutive session on Friday.
Against the backdrop of growing concerns over a further escalation in trade tensions between the world's two largest economies, the precious metal has been attracting safe-haven flows.
This coupled with the fact that the Fed is likely to cut interest rates by the end of this year further benefitted the non-yielding yellow metal and collaborated to the ongoing positive momentum.
Moreover, the US Dollar remained on the defensive amid a weaker tone surrounding the US Treasury bond yields and remained supportive of the strong bid tone around the dollar-denominated commodity.
Meanwhile, possibilities of some heavy trading stops being triggered on a sustained move beyond the $1348 region (previous yearly high) seemed to be a key trigger behind the latest of a sudden spike.
Hence, it would be prudent to wait for a strong follow-through movement in order to confirm that the current up-move is backed by any genuine buying and marks a fresh near-term bullish breakout.
Technical levels to watch
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