• Gold price regains some positive traction amid geopolitical risks and subdued USD demand.
• The Fed’s hawkish outlook remains supportive of elevated US bond yields and caps gains.
• A sustained strength beyond the 50-day SMA is needed for bulls to seize near-term control.

Gold price (XAU/USD) attracts some dip-buying during the Asian session on Friday and remains within the striking distance of a nearly two-week high touched the previous day. The conflict in the Middle East has shown no signs of de-escalation, which, along with a modest US Dollar (USD) downtick, turns out to be key factors lending some support to the safe-haven commodity. That said, growing acceptance that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will keep interest rates higher for longer amid concerns over sticky inflation and persistent strength in the US economy might continue to act as a headwind for the non-yielding yellow metal.

In fact, the minutes of the late January FOMC meeting revealed that policymakers were concerned about cutting interest rates too quickly. Furthermore, comments by a slew of influential Fed officials suggested that the central bank was in no hurry to ease its monetary policy. This remains supportive of elevated US Treasury bond yields and favours the USD bulls. Apart from this, the prevalent risk-on mood across the global equity markets could contribute to capping the upside for the Gold price. Hence, bulls might wait for a sustained strength beyond the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) before placing fresh bets.