Gold technical analysis: Challenges ascending trend-line/200-hour SMA confluence support near $1290 area

   •  Gold extended this week's retracement slide from near one-month tops and remained under some selling pressure for the third consecutive session on Thursday.

   •  Improving risk sentiment dampened demand for traditional safe-haven assets, which coupled with a modest USD uptick exerted downward pressure on the commodity.

The intraday downfall to multi-day lows forced the precious metal to retest a short-term ascending trend-line support extending from lows touched on May 2, 3 and 13. The mentioned support coincides with 200-hour SMA and should now act as a key pivotal point for the metal’s near-term trajectory.

Meanwhile, technical indicators on hourly charts have been gaining negative momentum but have managed to hold in the bullish territory on the daily chart. Hence, it would be prudent to wait for a convincing break through the mentioned confluence support before positioning for any further slide.

On the flip side, the key $1300 psychological mark might continue to act as a key hurdle, which if cleared decisively would set the stage for an extension of the near-term appreciating move towards the $1310 intermediate resistance en-route the $1322-24 supply zone.

Gold 1-hourly chart