Gold: Struggles for a firm direction, stuck in a range near $1290

   •  Fails to capitalize on the early uptick amid a modest pickup in the USD demand.
   •  Investors still seemed reluctant to place aggressive bets ahead of Friday's NFP.

Gold struggled to capitalize on the early uptick and is currently placed at the lower end of its daily trading range, just above $1290 level.

Wednesday's disappointing ADP report on the US private sector employment added to concerns over slowing US economic growth, which partly offset the latest optimism over the US-China trade talks and provided a minor lift to the precious metal's safe-haven demand.

This coupled with a subdued risk-sentiment, coupled with a mildly softer tone around the US Treasury bond yields provided an additional boost to the non-yielding yellow metal and further collaborated to a modest intraday uptick during the Asian session on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar managed to reverse an early dip, rather regained some positive traction and was seen as one of the key factors exerting some fresh downward pressure on the dollar-denominated commodity, though the downside, so far, seemed limited. 

Investors now seemed reluctant to place any aggressive bets and preferred to wait on the sidelines ahead of this week's key event risk - the latest US monthly jobs report (NFP), due for release on Friday, which might help determine the commodity's next leg of a directional move.

Technical levels to watch