Gold regains traction on softer USD, fresh trade worries

   •  Weaker USD/renewed US-China trade helps regain traction.
   •  Pickup in the US bond yields did little to stall the up-move.
   •  This week’s important releases could help determine the next direction.

Gold prices edged higher at the start of a new week/quarter and recovered a part of last week's corrective fall from 1-1/2 month tops. 

The key US Dollar index, which measures the greenback performance against a basket of six other major currencies, eased on Monday and helped revive demand for dollar-denominated commodities - like Gold. 

This coupled with some renewed trade tensions between the US and China provided an additional boost to the precious metal's safe-haven appeal and further collaborated to the up-move. 

Meanwhile, a goodish pickup in the US Treasury bond yields, which tends to drive flows away from the non-yielding yellow metal, did little to hinder the up-move, albeit might now contribute towards capping further gains. 

Currently placed at session tops, around $1331 area, investors now brace for this week's important market moving economic releases, including the keenly watched NFP, in order to determine the commodity's near-term direction. 

Technical levels to watch

Subsequent up-move beyond $1333 level now seems to get extended towards $1340 intermediate resistance en-route $1347-48 supply zone. On the flip side, retracement back below $1328 level now seems to drag the metal back towards $1322-20 area, which if broken could expose the very important 200-day SMA support near the $1310 region.