Gold Price Analysis: Bulls take a brief pause near 1-month old descending trend-line resistance

• Gold failed to capitalize on the positive move witnessed over the past two trading sessions.
• The set-up seems tilted in favour of bulls, albeit warrants some caution amid stronger USD.

Gold was seen oscillating in a narrow trading band through the early European session and consolidated its gains recorded over the past two trading session.

Bulls took a brief pause near an important resistance marked by a near one-month-old descending trend-line amid some strong follow-through USD buying.

Meanwhile, technical indicators on hourly/daily charts have all moved back into the positive territory and support prospects for an eventual bullish breakout.

The commodity is also holding comfortably above its important hourly/daily moving averages (100 & 200-period SMAs), which adds credence to the positive outlook.

However, it will be prudent to wait for a sustained break through the mentioned hurdle before traders place aggressive bets for any further near-term appreciating move.

Above the said barrier, the precious metal is likely to aim towards the $1635 intermediate resistance en-route last week's swing high, around the $1644-45 region.

On the flip side, any pullback towards the $1600 mark might still be seen as a buying opportunity and help limit the downside near the $1595 horizontal support.

Failure to defend the mentioned support levels would negate prospects for any further gains and pave the way for a slide back towards the $1570-68 region (weekly lows).

Gold 1-hourly chart

Technical levels to watch