Gold trades with modest losses below $1475 level, NFP in focus

• Gold retreats further from 100-day SMA amid the prevalent risk-on mood.
• Conflicting trade-headlines, subdued USD demand might help limit losses.
• The market focus now shifts to the closely-watched US monthly jobs report.

Gold edged lower during the early European session on Friday and dropped to three-day lows, around the $1472-71 region in the last hour, albeit lacked any strong follow-through selling.

Having failed ahead of the 100-day SMA support-turned-resistance earlier this week, the precious metal struggled to attract any meaningful buying and seemed rather unaffected by persistent uncertainty over the US-China trade negotiations.

The recent improvement in the global risk sentiment, supported by renewed trade optimism following the US President Donald Trump's remarks that talks with China were going very well, was seen as one of the key factors weighing on the safe-haven precious metal.

However, it is also worth reporting that Trump on Tuesday had said that a trade deal with China may not come until after the 2020 US presidential election. Conflicting signals kept a lid on the latest optimism and might help limit deeper losses, at least for now.

This coupled with the prevalent selling bias surrounding the US dollar – weighed down by the recent disappointing US macro data – might further extend some support to the dollar-denominated commodity ahead of Friday's release of the closely watched US monthly jobs report.

Hence, it will be prudent to wait for some strong follow-through selling before confirming that the recent recovery move might have already run out of the steam and positioning for any further near-term appreciating move.

Technical levels to watch