Gold sits near weekly tops, just above $1720 level

Gold edged higher during the early European session on Friday and was last seen trading near the top end of its weekly trading range, above the $1720 level.

The precious metal built on the previous day's solid intraday recovery from weekly lows and gained some follow-through traction for the second consecutive session. However, a combination of factors kept a lid on any additional gains.

The non-yielding yellow metal remained well supported by speculations that the Fed might be forced to push interest rates below zero. This, in turn, kept the US dollar bulls on the defensive and further benefitted the dollar-denominated commodity.

Meanwhile, the latest optimism over the re-opening of economies in some parts of the world continued boosting investors' sentiment. The risk-on flow was evident from the prevailing bullish sentiment around the global equity markets.

This coupled with reports that top trade negotiators from China and the US agreed to strengthen economic and public health cooperation acted as one of the key factors that capped the upside for the safe-haven commodity.

Investors also seemed reluctant to place any aggressive bets, rather preferred to wait on the sidelines ahead of Friday's important release of the closely watched US employment details, popularly known as NFP.

Even from a technical perspective, bulls are likely to wait for a sustained break through a near four-week-old descending trend-line resistance before positioning for a move back towards retesting multi-year tops, around the $1748 region.

Technical levels to watch