Gold technical analysis: Bears challenge $1390 support area ahead of Powell's speech

• Gold traded with a mild negative bias for the fourth consecutive session on Tuesday and remained well within the striking distance of Friday's post-NFP swing low.
• The precious metal now seems to have found acceptance below 100-period SMA on the 4-hourly chart and is currently flirting with one-week-old trend-line support.

With technical indicators on hourly charts sliding further into the bearish territory, a sustained breakthrough the mentioned support will now be seen as a key trigger for bearish traders and pave the way for further intraday weakness.

However, oscillators on the daily chart, though have been losing positive momentum, maintained their bullish bias and thus, warrant come caution before placing any aggressive bets ahead of the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s scheduled speech.

Hence, it would be prudent to wait for a sustained break below the said support, currently near the $1390 region, before positioning for any further depreciating move back towards the last week’s swing low, around the $1382-81 area.

On the flip side, immediate resistance is now pegged near the $1405 region (50-period SMA on the 4-hourly chart), above which the commodity is likely to extend the positive momentum back towards multi-year tops – around the $1440 region, with some intermediate resistance near the $1423-27 zone.

Gold 4-hourly chart