Gold resume near-term corrective move, drops to $1317

After last week's brief pause on Thursday, Gold resumed its near-term downward trajectory and is now trading close to recent daily closing lows support near $1315 region.

Recent upbeat US economic data has been reviving hopes for an imminent Fed rate-hike later during this year. Increasing prospects of a Fed rate-hike has boosted the US Dollar, as measured by the US Dollar index, and had been the key factor driving the yellow metal lower in past two week. 

Adding to this, risk-on rally across global equity markets dented demand for safe-haven assets and has been weighing on the precious metal. 

Hence, investors this week will remain focused on the key monetary policy decision by the US Federal Reserve that would determine the direction of the greenback and drive investor sentiment, thus, impacting gold prices in the near-term.

Technical levels to watch

On the immediate downside, $1310 (July 21 swing low) remains immediate support to watch, below which the commodity seems to break below $1305 support (June 28 low) and head toward testing 50-day SMA support near $1290 region.

Meanwhile on the upside, 20-day SMA near $1335 region now seems to have emerged as immediate resistance, which if conquered seems to assist the commodity to $1347 (July 14 high) before rising further towards $1357 (July 12 high).