Gold up little, holds steady above $1260 level

Gold struggled to build on early gains to session tops near $1264 region but has managed to hold with minor gains amid prevalent risk-off environment.

The tragic news of a suspected terrorist attack in the city of Manchester, which left at least 20 people dead and over 50 injured, triggered a fresh wave of global risk-aversion trade and boosted demand for traditional safe-haven assets, lifting the precious metal back closer to near three-week highs touched last week. 

This coupled with the ongoing political uncertainty in the world's largest economy, and persistent selling pressure surrounding the US Dollar, further benefitted dollar-denominated commodities - like gold and remained supportive of the bid tone for the third consecutive session. 

It, however, remains to be seen if the commodity is able to build on to its recent gains amid increasing odds for an eventual Fed rate-hike action at its June meeting, which tends to dent demand for the non-yielding metal.

Today's second-tier US macro data is unlikely to act as a fresh catalyst for the metal's near-term trajectory and hence, broader market risk-sentiment would continue be an exclusive driver ahead of the release of Fed monetary policy meeting minutes on Wednesday.

Technical levels to watch

Bulls would be eyeing for a move beyond $1265 immediate resistance, above which the upward trajectory seems more likely to get extended towards $1268 horizontal resistance ahead of the $1275-76 important hurdle. On the flip side, $1255 level now seems to protect immediate downside, which if broken is likely to drag the metal back towards $1250 intermediate support ahead of the very important 200-day SMA support near $1246-45 region.