Gold hits fresh 6-week lows, remains vulnerable to slide further

   •  A goodish pickup in the USD demand weighs heavily on the commodity.
   •  Easing geopolitical tension does little to support safe-haven demand.

Gold continued losing ground through the early NA session and is currently placed at fresh 6-week lows, around the $1312-11 region.

After Friday's corrective bounce, resurgent US Dollar demand was seen as one of the key factors weighing heavily on dollar-denominated commodities - like gold at the start of a new trading week. 

This coupled with easing geopolitical tensions, coupled with improving investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities further dented the precious metal's safe-haven appeal and collaborated to the downfall.

Moreover, possibilities of some short-term trading stops being triggered on a break below $1315 horizontal support could have further aggravated the selling pressure over the past hour or so. 

Meanwhile, the recent break below 100-day SMA, for the first time since late December, and the commodity's inability to gain any respite clearly seems to suggest that the near-term downward trajectory might still be far from over. Hence, a follow-through weakness, towards challenging the very important 200-day SMA support, now looks a distinct possibility.

Technical levels to watch

A follow-through weakness below $1310 level is likely to accelerate the slide towards the $1303 region (200-DMA), below which the commodity seems vulnerable to slide further in the near-term.

On the upside, $1316 level now seems to act as an immediate resistance and is followed by 100-day SMA barrier near the $1320 region, which if cleared could lift the metal back towards $1325 supply zone.