Gold surges through $1350 level, highest since April 2018

• US-China trade tensions continue to benefit the commodity’s safe-haven status.
• Fed rate cut bets, weaker bond yields, subdued USD demand remained supportive.
• Technical buying on above $1248 area further accelerates the positive momentum.

Gold caught some aggressive bids in the last hour and surged to the highest level since April 2018, around the $1358 region.

The precious metal added to its recent strong gains, with a combination of supporting factors fueling the ongoing positive momentum for the third consecutive session on Friday.

Against the backdrop of growing concerns over a further escalation in trade tensions between the world's two largest economies, the precious metal has been attracting safe-haven flows.

This coupled with the fact that the Fed is likely to cut interest rates by the end of this year further benefitted the non-yielding yellow metal and collaborated to the ongoing positive momentum.

Moreover, the US Dollar remained on the defensive amid a weaker tone surrounding the US Treasury bond yields and remained supportive of the strong bid tone around the dollar-denominated commodity.

Meanwhile, possibilities of some heavy trading stops being triggered on a sustained move beyond the $1348 region (previous yearly high) seemed to be a key trigger behind the latest of a sudden spike.

Hence, it would be prudent to wait for a strong follow-through movement in order to confirm that the current up-move is backed by any genuine buying and marks a fresh near-term bullish breakout.

Technical levels to watch