Underpinned In Asia

Gold sits ~$12/oz lower at writing to print $1,986.1/oz, backing away from session highs at $2,000.0/oz. The move lower comes as the Dollar Index (DXY) operates near 22-month highs, while major oil benchmarks continue to trade well below Monday’s best levels, with the latter facilitating an easing of stagflation fears from recent extremes.

• The precious metal ultimately remains bid, just shy of the recent multi-month highs on elevated worry re: the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with little by way of a diplomatic resolution in sight (a note that the third round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on Monday yielded no concrete measures, although both sides agreed to continue talks).
• To recap Monday’s price action, spot gold recovered from session lows ($1,961.2/oz) to close ~$30 higher, rising as U.S. real yields & U.S. equity indices fell.
• Looking to technical levels, gold continues to trade above its recent bull channel, drawn from the Aug 9 ’21 low. Resistance is situated at $2,030.0/oz (Aug 11 ’20 high), while support is seen at $1,983.5 (Mar 4 low).