Gold turns lower for the day; downside seems limited ahead of NFP

• A modest rebound in the USD/US bond yields exerts some downward pressure.
• The downside seemed limited ahead of Friday’s key release of the US jobs report.

Gold failed to capitalize on its early uptick to $1424 area and refreshed session lows in the last hour, albeit remained well within a near three-day-old trading range. 

Fading optimism over a quick resolution of the prolonged US-China trade disputes provided a minor boost to the precious metal's relative safe-haven status, albeit lacked any strong follow-through amid a modest US Dollar rebound.

The greenback gained some positive traction - probably on the back of some near-term short-covering ahead of Friday's important release of the US monthly jobs report and exerted some pressure on the dollar-denominated commodity. 

This coupled with a sudden intraday turnaround in the US Treasury bond yields further collaborated towards driving flows away from the non-yielding yellow metal and collaborated to the intraday downtick, though the downside seemed rather limited. 

Traders now seemed to hold back from placing any aggressive bets and preferred to wait for June US NFP report, which might play a key role in influencing the Fed's near-term monetary policy outlook and provide a fresh directional impetus.

Technical levels to watch