Gold holds steady above $1330, inches back closer to 4-month tops

Gold traded with a positive bias through the Asian session on Tuesday and inched back closer to last week's over 4-month highs. 

With the Senators agreeing to end the government shutdown on Monday, a modest US Dollar rebound was largely offset by weaker US Treasury bond yields and remained supportive of the up-move for the non-yielding yellow metal. 

Even the ongoing upsurge in global equities, which tends to influence demand for traditional safe-haven assets, and firming expectations for a March Fed rate hike move did little to stall the precious metal's uptick to the $1337-38 region. 

Meanwhile, the commodity also seems to have benefitted from the latest BOJ monetary policy decision, wherein Governor Kuroda was noted saying that the central bank is not in a situation to consider exiting from QQE. 

Market participants now await the outcome of the European Central Bank's meeting on Thursday, which would provide some fresh clues over any future shifts in the bank's monetary policy and provide some fresh impetus. 

Apart from the central bank meetings, this week's key US macro data, including the advance fourth-quarter GDP growth number, would also play a key role in determining the metal's next leg of directional move.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance is pegged near the $1340 region, above which the commodity is likely to dart towards $1348 hurdle en-route 2017 yearly highs resistance near the $1357 level. On the flip side, $1334 area now seems to protect the immediate downside, which if broken might prompt some profit-taking slide back towards $1326 horizontal support.