Climbs to session tops, challenges 100-hour SMA

Gold gains some traction for the second consecutive session on Thursday.
Subsequent strength is likely to confront stiff resistance near $1572-73 region.

Gold built on the previous session’s modest uptick and continued gaining some positive traction through the mid-European session on Thursday. The momentum has now lifted the commodity back to 100-hour SMA, which is closely followed by resistance near 200-hour SMA.

The latter coincides with a near one-month-old ascending trend-line support breakpoint and should now be a tough nut to crack for the yellow metal. That said, a convincing break through the mentioned confluence barrier would be seen as a fresh trigger for bullish traders and pave the way for additional gains.

Given that oscillators on the daily chart maintained their bullish bias and have again started gaining positive traction on hourly charts, some follow-through buying might assist the commodity to head back towards challenging the $1590-92 supply zone (weekly tops).

On the flip side, the overnight swing high, around the $1560 region, now seems to protect the immediate downside, which if broken might drag the commodity back towards challenging its next strong support near the $1548-47 region.