Gold eases further from yesterday’s 4-week tops

   •  A modest pickup in the US bond yields prompts fresh selling.
   •  Thursday’s key focus would remain on the US tax bill vote.

Gold extended overnight sharp retracement from 4-week tops and slipped back below 100-day SMA on Thursday. 

Wednesday's slightly better-than-expected US CPI/monthly retail sales helped the US Treasury bond yields to stage a goodish rebound and prompted some fresh selling around the non-yielding metal.

The weakness persisted for the second consecutive session on Thursday, with the precious metal surrendering majority of its weekly gains amid fading safe-haven demand and a slight improvement in investors' risk appetite. 

Meanwhile, a subdued US Dollar price action, led by uncertainty over the US tax reform bill, was seen lending some support to dollar-denominated commodities - like gold and helped limit deeper losses, at least for the time being.

The US tax bill headlines would continue to infuse some volatility as investors now look forward to the key vote on the legislation, due later on Thursday.

Technical levels to watch

A follow-through retracement below $1274 level could get extended towards weekly lows support near $1270 level before the metal eventually drops to the very important 200-day SMA support near the $1264 region.

On the upside, any recovery up-move now seems to confront immediate resistance near $1280 level, above which a bout of short-covering could lift the commodity back towards $1290 supply zone.