Gold hits 18-month low, approaching $1200 mark

   •  The ongoing USD upsurge prompts some fresh selling at the start of a new week.
   •  Reviving safe-haven demand does little to lend any support and stall the downfall.

After an initial uptick to $1214 area, gold met with some fresh supply and tumbled to its lowest level since March 2017 in the last hour.

The precious metal extended last Friday's rejection slide from the $1217 supply zone and seemed rather unaffected by the global flight to safety, triggered by the ongoing currency crisis in Turkey.

With the prevalent risk-off mood doing little to revive the precious metal's safe-haven demand, firming expectations about gradual Fed rate hike path had been one of the key factors keeping a lid on any attempted recovery move for the non-yielding yellow metal.

Meanwhile, the latest leg of decline over the past hour or so could also be attributed to the ongoing US Dollar bullish momentum, which tends to exert downward pressure on dollar-denominated commodities - like gold. 

Adding to this, possibilities of some short-term trading stops being triggered, below a near-term trading range support, near the $1206, held over the past one week or so, might have further aggravated the selling bias.

Hence, a follow-through weakness, led by some fresh technical selling, now looks a distinct possibility amid absent market moving economic releases on Monday.

Technical levels to watch

Bears now seem to target the $1200 round figure mark, below which the bearish slide could further get extended towards March 2017 lows, around the $1195 region. On the upside, recovery attempts back above $1206 level might continue to confront fresh supply near $1212-13 area and any subsequent up-move seems more likely to remain capped near the $1217 supply zone.