Gold Price Analysis: On the defensive near 200-hour SMA/23.6% Fibo. confluence support

• Gold edged lower on Wednesday, albeit managed to hold above the $1980 confluence support.
• Mixed oscillators on hourly/daily charts warrant caution ahead of the FOMC meeting minutes.

Gold maintained its offered tone through the early North American session, albeit lacked any follow-through selling and so far, has managed to hold above the $1980 confluence support. The mentioned region comprises of 200-hour SMA and the 23.6% Fibonacci level of the $1963-$2015 recent strong rally, which should now act as a key pivotal point for short-term traders.

Meanwhile, mixed technical indicators on hourly/daily charts warrant some caution before placing aggressive bets and ahead of Wednesday's release of the latest FOMC meeting minutes. Hence, it will be prudent to wait for some strong follow-through selling before positioning for any further depreciating move, possibly towards the $1960-55 region (38.2% Fibo. level).

Any subsequent slide is likely to find decent support around the $1937-35 region (near 50% Fibo. level), which if broken decisively will negate prospects for any further positive move.

On the flip side, the $1995-$2000 region now seems to act as an immediate strong resistance, above which the commodity could aim back to the overnight swing high, around the $2015 region. Above the mentioned hurdles, the commodity seems all set to test an intermediate resistance near the $2045-50 congestion zone before eventually aiming back to the $2075 area (record highs).

Gold 1-hourly chart

Technical levels to watch