Gold trades with modest gains, around $1215 area

   •  A subdued USD demand helps build on this week’s rebound. 
   •  Improving risk sentiment does little to prompt fresh selling.
   •  US-China trade optimism/Fed rate hike expectations to cap gains.

Gold prices edged higher on Thursday, with bulls making a fresh attempt to extend the positive momentum further beyond 50-day SMA.

The precious metal built on this week's goodish rebound from over one-month lows, set earlier this week and rallied hard during the US trading session on Wednesday, albeit struggled to sustain at higher levels. 

The recent US Dollar corrective slide from roughly 1-1/2 year tops turned out to be one of the key factors benefitting the dollar-denominated commodity. This coupled the overnight selloff in the US equity markets further underpinned the precious metal's safe-haven appeal and provided an additional boost. 

With the USD now seemed to have found some support, a slight risk-recovery on Thursday, as depicted by a positive tone around equity markets, did little to prompt any fresh selling, albeit might now contribute towards keeping a lid on any meaningful up-move. 

This coupled with some renewed optimism over a possible de-escalation of US-China trade disputes, and firming expectations for a gradual Fed monetary policy tightening, even beyond 2018, might further collaborate towards capping the non-yielding yellow metal. 

Hence, it would be prudent to wait for a strong follow-through buying before traders start positioning for any further near-term appreciating move. 

Market participants now look forward to the US economic docket, highlighting the release of monthly retail sales data, along with the usual initial weekly jobless claims and regional manufacturing indices, in order to grab some short-term trading opportunities. 

Technical levels to watch

The $1216-17 region might continue to act as an immediate resistance, above which the positive momentum could get extended towards $1221-22 supply zone. On the flip side, the $1209-07 region now becomes an immediate support to defend, which if broken might turn the commodity vulnerable to slide back below the $1200 psychological mark and retest $1197-95 horizontal support.