FX.co ★ XAU/USD, GOLD

As the European session begins on Monday, gold (XAU/USD) continues to make small intraday gains around $4,200. For the time being, it appears to have ended a three-day losing trend to reach a low of more than a week on Friday. After mediators Qatar and Pakistan issued a formal 60-day plan aimed at obtaining a final US-Iran peace accord, crude oil prices declined after a slight bullish weekly gap. As a result, worries about inflation and rising interest rates are lessened, providing some support for the precious metal. Citing the ongoing Israeli bombings in Lebanon, Iran declared that it had once more closed the Strait of Hormuz and accused the US and Israel of breaking the ceasefire. Furthermore, if Hezbollah persisted in its attacks on Israel, US President Donald Trump vowed to take additional military action against Iran. This highlights the diplomatic process's vulnerability and maintains the geopolitical risk premium. Furthermore, Russia has stepped up its attacks on significant Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, which helps the safe-haven dollar halt Friday's decline from its peak since May 2025 and keeps a cap on the gold, so bulls should exercise caution. Technically speaking, the XAU/USD bears benefit from last week's unsuccessful attempts to break through the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) support-turned-resistance and the ensuing decline. Additionally, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicates muted purchasing activity as it remains in the upper 30s. Furthermore, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) has a little negative histogram and is still in negative territory, indicating that the downward momentum is slowing but has not yet reversed. In the meantime, the first crucial level that bulls must recover in order to relieve the present bearish pressure should be the 200-day EMA around $4,334. Rebounds are likely to be seen as corrective within a larger consolidative slide until that level is recovered on a daily closing basis, with momentum indications suggesting that additional tests of lower levels cannot be ruled out.