Gold continues to tread water around $1300 amid a lack of fresh catalysts

• XAU/USD remains in its two-week-old range.
• Wall Street points to a mixed opening.
• DXY looks to end the week below 94.

The XAU/USD pair continues to have a difficult time setting a short-term direction as buyers don't want to commit to large positions above the $1300 mark. Since the start of the week, the pair is moving sideways near that level and was last seen trading at $1298.50, where it was up only 0.1% on the day.

The US Dollar Index, which came under pressure earlier this week as investors started to price the ECB expectations, made a technical correction on Friday after finding a support near 93.20 on Thursday. However, the index struggled to preserve its bullish momentum and retraced a small portion of its daily gains before touching the 94 mark. At the moment, the index is adding 0.25% at 93.65.

Despite a relatively stronger greenback, the pair stays in the positive territory as the precious metal seems to be finding some market demand amid an unclear market sentiment. In pre-market trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.4% while the S&P 500 was down 0.3%.

With no more macroeconomic data releases left in the remainder of the week, the pair is likely to stay in its daily trading band.

Technical outlook

The immediate resistance for the pair aligns at $1300 (psychological level) ahead of $1308 (200-DMA) and $1315 (50-DMA). On the downside, supports could be seen at $1295 (20-DMA), $1290 (Jun. 4 low) and $1282 (May 2 low).