Gold clings to gains near session tops, around $1650 region

• Gold gains some traction for the second straight session on Thursday.
• The risk-off mood continues to benefit the metal’s safe-haven status.
• The ongoing fall in the US bond yields, weaker USD remained supportive.

Gold traded with a mild positive bias through the early European session and is currently placed near the top end of its daily trading range, around the $1650 level.

As investors remain concerned over the global outbreak of the deadly coronavirus and its impact on the world economy, the prevailing risk-off mood continued underpinning demand for traditional safe-haven assets – including gold.

Gold supported by a combination of factors

The precious metal added to the overnight modest gains and edged higher for the second consecutive session on Thursday. The ongoing slump in the US Treasury bond yields provided an additional boost to the non-yielding yellow metal.

In fact, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US government bond fell to fresh all-time lows on Thursday, which kept the US dollar bulls on the defensive and remained supportive of the bid tone surrounding the dollar-denominated commodity.

Bulls, however, seemed reluctant, rather refrained from placing any aggressive bets and preferred to wait for a fresh catalyst from Thursday's important US macro releases – the first revision of the Q4 GDP figures and Durable Goods Orders.

Hence, it will be prudent to wait for some strong follow-through buying before traders again start positioning for the resumption of the commodity's recent strong bullish momentum witnessed over the past two weeks or so.

Technical levels to watch