Gold eases from 1-month tops, downside seems limited

   •  Easing trade-war fears/risk recovery prompts some profit-taking.
   •  Persistent USD weakness helps limit further downside. 

Gold surrendered early modest gains to fresh 1-month tops and is currently placed near session lows, touched in the past hour. 

Easing fears of a full-blown US-China trade war, coupled with a slight improvement in investors' appetite for riskier assets, as depicted by positive sentiment around European equity markets, dented the precious metal's safe-haven appeal and prompted some profit-taking at higher levels. 

Adding to this, a goodish pickup in the US Treasury bond yields was further seen weighing on the non-yielding yellow metal and further collaborated to the mildly weaker tone. 

Further downside, however, remained cushioned by persistent US Dollar selling bias, which tends to underpin demand for dollar-denominated commodities - like gold. Hence, it would prudent to wait for any subsequent long-unwinding pressure before confirming that the metal might have topped out in the near-term.

Later during the NY session, speeches by various FOMC members might influence Fed rate hike expectations and eventually help traders grab some short-term opportunities. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near $1340 level, below which the corrective slide could further get extended towards $1332-30 support area. On the upside, sustained move beyond $1350 level might now lift the commodity back towards $1358-60 supply zone.