Gold holds steady near 7-week tops ahead of US jobs data

Gold held steady near 7-week highs but lacked any firm direction and oscillated in a narrow trading range amid subdued trading action on Friday.

On Thursday, the precious metal touched a one-week low near the $1257-56 region but managed to recover sharply on renewed safe-haven demand post-BoE monetary policy decision. Adding to this, growing concerns over the US President Donald Trump's alleged links with Russia continued weighing on the US Dollar and further benefitted dollar-denominated commodities - like gold.

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Investors, however, seemed to have turned cautious and refrained from placing aggressive bets ahead of the keenly watched US jobs data, which would provide further clues on the Fed's near-term monetary policy outlook and eventually determine the next leg of directional move for the non-yielding yellow metal. 

From a technical perspective, the commodity has been consolidating over the past four trading sessions and even a minor pullback is being bought into. Hence, the recent price-action is clearly suggesting that the metal's near-term appreciating move might still be far from over and should get an additional boost from any disappointment from today's NFP report. 

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained move beyond $1269-70 region, the metal is likely to surpass $1275 level (Tuesday's high) and dart towards its next hurdle near $1279 area. On the flip side, the $1262-60 region now seems to have emerged as immediate strong support, below which the fall could get extended towards 100-day SMA support near the $1252 region.