Gold remains near daily lows on higher risk appetite

The precious metal is having a difficult time correcting its daily losses as the risk appetite stays in control on Monday. At the moment, the XAU/USD pair is down 1.15% on the day, trading at $1269.70.

After Macron had won the first round of French presidential election with 23.8% of the votes, all the major stock indices recorded serious gains. The German DAX rose more than 3% while the UK's FTSE 100 jumped more than 2%. The solid performance of European stocks was also reflected upon the American stocks. At the moment, both the Dow and S&P 500 indexes are up around 1% on the day.

The demand for safe haven Gold, hurt by the positive market sentiment, remained dismal throughout the day and pushed the XAU/USD to its two-week low level around $1265. On the other hand, the greenback is also suffering from the heightened interest on European currencies with the US Dollar Index unable to move back above the 99 mark, and help the pair limit its losses for the time being. The market sentiment and the US Dollar Index could continue to be the main catalysts on the pair as the economic calendar does not feature any data for the remainder of the day.

Last week on Friday, the latest CFTC data revealed that the net bullish positions for Gold rose by 15% to 161,263 contracts, reflecting the heightened demand for safe havens amid geopolitical tensions. In case the tension between North Korea and the U.S. rises again, we may see the XAU/USD start a recovery move.

Technical outlook

The initial support for the pair aligns at $1265 (daily low), ahead of $1248 (50-DMA) and $1240 (200-DMA). To the upside, resistance could be seen at $1274 (daily high), $1288 (Apr. 21 high) and $1295 (Apr. 17 high).