Gold holds steady below 2-1/2 month lows, around $1230 level

   •  Rising diplomatic tensions continue to underpin safe-haven demand. 
   •  Subdued USD price-action remains supportive of a mildly positive tone.
   •  A modest uptick in the US bond yields seemed to cap meaningful up-move.

Gold traded with a mild positive bias on Tuesday and remained within striking distance of 2-1/2 month high, set in the previous session.

A combination of positive factors helped the precious metal to build on last week's strong bullish momentum and lifted it to an intraday high level of $1233.30, the highest since July 26.

Rising diplomatic tensions between Western powers and Saudi Arabia, over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was seen underpinning the precious metal's safe-haven status. 

This coupled with some renewed US Dollar selling bias, further aggravated by Monday's disappointing release of US monthly retail sales data, provided an additional boost to the dollar-denominated commodity.

The momentum lifted the commodity beyond the 100-day SMA for the first time since late-April, though a modest uptick in the US Treasury bond yields kept a lid on any runaway rally for the non-yielding yellow metal.

With the USD struggling to gain any traction, a follow-through up-move, supported by some technical buying, remains a distinct possibility amid absent relevant market moving economic releases from the US.

Technical levels to watch

The $1233-35 region might continue to act as an immediate resistance, above which the metal is likely to aim towards testing $1241 intermediate hurdle en-route the $1248 supply zone. 

On the flip side, $1224 area is likely to act as an immediate support, which if broken might prompt some profit-taking and accelerate the fall further towards $1215 horizontal support.