Gold holds weaker around $1340 level

   •  Fading safe-haven demand weighs for the second straight session.
   •  A follow-through USD recovery adds to the downward pressure.

Gold extended overnight retracement slide from near 1-1/2 month tops and traded with a negative bias for the second consecutive session on Wednesday.

Easing fears of a global trade war, coupled with the latest geopolitical developments over the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula helped revive investors' risk appetite and continued weighing on the precious metal's safe-haven appeal. 

Adding to this, a follow-through US Dollar uptick exerted some additional downward pressure on dollar-denominated commodities - like gold and further collaborated to the ongoing retracement slide from the highest level since mid-Feb. 

Investors now look forward to the final US Q4 GDP growth figures, expected to be revised higher, which should influence the USD price dynamics and eventually provide some fresh impetus later during the early NA session. 

Technical levels to watch

A follow-through selling pressure has the potential to continue dragging the metal further towards $1333-32 support area en-route the $1325 region. On the upside, $1345-46 area now seems to have emerged as an immediate resistance, above which the commodity is likely to head back towards $1353-55 heavy supply zone.