Gold awaits clear direction around $1470 amid risk reset

• The latest trade positive headlines keep a check on Gold’s recovery.
• US-China trade discord, Hong Kong unrest and the USD weakness helped the bullion the previous day.
• Trade/political news will keep the driver’s seat amid a light economic calendar.

With the fresh optimism surrounding the US-China trade accord, Gold prices struggle to extend the previous recovery while taking rounds to $1,471 amid Friday’s initial Asian trading session.

In addition to the Politico and South China Morning Post’s (SCMP) updates on a likely extension to the Huawei sanction waiver, comments from the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) McKenny, signaling further talks on Friday and a 50% chance to the deal, brightened the risk sentiment off-late.

The yellow metal rose to one week high on Thursday as trade/political catalysts keep risk tone heavier while the broad weakness of the US dollar (USD) added strength to the momentum. Trade negotiators between the United States and China keep juggling after China denied mentioning the number for the US farm imports. Also weighing the talks were political tensions surrounding Hong Kong protests and China’s objection to the US transit in Taiwan waters. Additionally, disappointing data from Australia and China further pleased the bullion buyers on Thursday.

The USD weakness could be attributed to the Federal Reserve officials’ inability to provide any clear direction to the future monetary policy while the US Jobless Claims’ surge to the highest since June strengthened the greenback bears.

Moving on, a light economic calendar until the US will keep the market’s focus on trade/political headlines for fresh impulse whereas the United States (US) Retail Sales and Industrial Production could entertain traders afterward.

Technical Analysis

100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) around $1,479/80 acts as an immediate upside barrier ahead of $1,500 round-figure while the recent low around $1,445 and an early-July high around $1,436/35 could please sellers during the pullback.