Gold rises to one-week high on weaker USD and N. Korea concerns

Gold was seen building on to last week's tepid recovery move and inched higher for the third consecutive session, currently placed at one-week high near $1231-32 region.

Renewed geopolitical tensions in the Korean peninsula, following N. Korea's yet another ballistic missile test over the weekend, provided an initial boost to the precious metal's safe-haven appeal. This coupled with Friday's disappointing US macro data further pressured the US Dollar and was also seen benefitting dollar-denominated commodities - like gold.

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Against the backdrop of dismal first quarter GDP growth figures, disappointing incoming US economic data now seems to have dampened expectations of faster Fed rate-tightening cycle through 2017 and further collaborated to the bid tone surrounding the non-yielding yellow metal. 

Despite of the up-move, the metal lacked strong momentum amid improving investors' appetite for riskier assets, as depicted by positive opening for the European equity markets, which did little to lend any additional support to traditional safe-haven assets.

Later during the NA session, the US economic docket, featuring the release of Empire State Manufacturing Index, would now be looked upon for some fresh trading impetus. In the meantime, broader market risk sentiment and the USD price-dynamics would continue to remain key determinants of the metal's movement on the first trading day of a new week.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance is pegged near $1236 level, above which the commodity seems all set to aim towards testing the very important 200-day SMA hurdle near $1247 region with some intermediate resistance near $1242-43 area.

On the flip side, weakness back below $1228-27 zone, leading to a subsequent drop below $1225 support, is likely to drag the metal back towards near two-month lows support around $1215 region en-route its next major support near $1205 horizontal level.