Gold sits at over 2-week tops; bulls await a sustained move beyond $1300 mark

   •  Risk-off mood provides a strong boost to the commodity’s safe-haven status.
   •  A slump in the US bond yields undermined the USD and remained supportive.
   •  A sustained move beyond the $1300 needed to confirm any further up-move.

Gold held on to its strong gains through the early North-American session, with bulls now awaiting a follow-through move beyond the key $1300 psychological mark.

The precious metal built on the overnight sharp rebound from one-week lows and continued gaining positive traction for the second consecutive session on Friday amid a fresh wave of global risk-aversion trade.

The US President Donald Trump's surprise move to impose a 5% tariff on all goods from Mexico intensified about a global trade war and provided a strong boost to the precious metal's perceived safe-haven status. 

The global flight to safety was evident from a selloff across equity markets and reinforced by a sharp intraday slump in the US Treasury bond yields, which further drove flows towards the non-yielding yellow metal.

Meanwhile, a free fall in the US bond yields largely exerted some downward pressure on the US Dollar and remained supportive of the strong bid tone surrounding the dollar-denominated commodity. 

It would now be interesting to see if Friday's upsurge marks a near-term bullish break-out or is still seen as a selling opportunity as market participants still await a fresh update on the US-China trade relations.

Technical levels to watch