Hovering Above Two-Week Lows

Gold is virtually unchanged at typing, printing $1,918/oz in very limited Asia-Pac dealing. The precious metal operates around the lower end of Tuesday’s range.

• To recap Tuesday’s price action, gold closed ~$30/oz lower to lodge a third consecutive day of losses, hitting two-week lows amidst an uptick in U.S. real yields (ahead of the FOMC’s monetary policy announcement, due later Wednesday), while the major crude oil benchmarks also registered their own two-week lows.
• Looking to ongoing Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks, both sides will meet for a third day of negotiations on Wednesday. Uncertainty remains re: the prospect for a diplomatic resolution, with Russian President Putin stating that Ukrainian leaders are not “demonstrating a serious attitude” towards resolving the conflict, coming as Ukrainian negotiator and presidential aide Podolyak has highlighted “fundamental contradictions” in the talks (reports point to no let up in the Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities). Overall progress remains incremental, with Russian FM Lavrov revealing that negotiators were discussing a neutral military status for Ukraine and “demilitarising” the country, while Ukrainian President Zelensky has stated that talks were sounding more “realistic”, although emphasising that more time was needed.
• From a technical perspective, gold trades below its 20-Day EMA, although recent pullbacks are still considered corrective. Support is now located at $1,901.5 (Mar 1 low), and a break below that level will expose further support at the 50-Day EMA (~$1,888.7/oz).