Gold hanging near 6-week lows ahead of US data

Having cracked below the very important 200-day SMA support, gold extended its losing streak and is now hanging near 6-week lows, around $1235 region.

Wednesday's FOMC statement reinforced market expectations that the Fed would eventually raise interest rates as early as at its June meeting and sparked a fresh wave of up-surge in the US treasury bond yields, which is eventually weighing on the non-yielding precious metal. 

Adding to this, the prevalent risk-on environment, as depicted by strong gains in the European equity markets, along with receding geopolitical tensions, also dented demand for traditional safe-haven assets and collaborated to the yellow metal's downslide, to its lowest level since March 21.

Meanwhile, a mildly softer tone surrounding the greenback, with the key US Dollar Index giving-up some of its post-Fed up-move to 2-week highs, extended some support to the dollar-denominated commodities and helped limit further downslide, at least for the time being.

Next on tap would be the US macro data that includes - Weekly Jobless Claims, Prelim Nonfarm Productivity and Unit Labor Costs, Trade Balance and Factory Orders data, which would be looked upon for some short-term trading impetus. 

Major focus, however, would remain on Friday's keenly watched monthly jobs report, popularly known as NPF and is known to infuse volatility across global financial markets. 

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained weakness below $1230 level, the commodity is likely to extend the downslide further towards 100-day SMA support near $1220 region, with $1224 level providing some intermediate support. Meanwhile on the upside, any recovery attempts might confront immediate resistance near $1241 level (session top), above which a bout of short-covering could lift the metal to $1245 level ahead of the 200-day SMA support break, now turned resistance, near $1251-52 region.