Gold technical analysis: Forming a strong base near 100-hour SMA, move beyond $1288 supply zone awaited

   •  Barring Wednesday's knee-jerk spike to three-week tops, the precious metal has been oscillating well within a broader trading range since the beginning of this week. 

   •  Meanwhile, bulls have been showing some resilience below 100-hour SMA and any subsequent downtick remained limited near a short-term ascending trend-line.

Technical indicators on hourly charts held in the bullish territory but have struggled to gain positive traction, which coupled with neutral oscillators on the daily chart have failed to inspire bullish traders or provide any meaningful impetus.

Hence, it would be prudent to wait for a sustained move beyond the $1388-90 horizontal zone before traders start positioning aggressively for a further near-term appreciating move towards reclaiming the key $1300 psychological mark. 

On the flip side, weakness below 100-hour SMA might continue to find some fresh buying near the trend-line support, which if broken might prompt some technical selling and drag the commodity further towards $1277-76 horizontal support.

Gold 1-hourly chart