Gold surges to multi-month peaks amid broad based USD weakness

Gold finally broke through its near-term trading range and jumped to fresh multi-month highs during early NA session.

Currently trading around $1248 level, the precious metal gains fresh traction amid some renewed greenback selling pressure on comments from the US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, at an interview on CNBC. Mnuchin's concerns about the US debt level, and remarks that new policies would have limited impact in 2017, sparked a fresh wave of slide in the US Treasury bond yields and undermined the US Dollar demand. 

Apart from the broad based US Dollar sell-off, a slight disappointing from initial weekly jobless claims data from the US, and prevalent cautious sentiment surrounding equity markets, also supported demand for traditional safe-haven assets and collaborated to the yellow metal’s up-move to the highest level since Nov. 11.

Against the backdrop of Wednesday’s less hawkish FOMC meeting minutes, speech from the Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan is unlikely to provide any immediate respite for the greenback, which might continue to boost commodities priced in Dollar, including gold.

Technical levels to watch

Sustained move above $1250 level now seems to pave way for continuation of the near-term upward trajectory towards the very important 200-day SMA hurdle near $1262 region, with some intermediate resistance near $1256-57 area. 

On the flip side, $1245 level now becomes immediate support, while $1240 should now protect any near-term corrective slide. However, a break below $1240 support might negate the near-term bullish bias and drag the commodity back below $1230 level.