Gold on MCX settled up 0.42% at 29016 buoyed by a weaker dollar on tepid economic data from the United States and as investors turned to safe-haven assets on worries over geopolitical tensions. Supporting gold was geopolitical tension sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump who on Sunday held out the possibility of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation against North Korea. A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity retreated from a 2-1/2 year high in March amid a decline in production and an inventory drawdown. Hedge funds and money managers raised their net long position in COMEX gold by 33,179 to 99,150 lots in the week to March 28, the highest in more than three weeks. Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, climbed 0.53 percent to 836.77 tonnes on Monday from 832.32 tonnes on Friday. Investor appetite for risk has been dulled this week by a number of factors, such as caution ahead of the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping and a suspected suicide bombing in St. Petersburg, Russia. Investors awaited comments from several Federal Reserve officials and a key nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, to assess the likelihood of a June rate hike. Gold gained more than 8% in the first quarter, benefiting from political uncertainty in Europe, after the UK triggered Article 50 to formally kick off the Brexit process while investors continued to worry that anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen could stage a surprise victory in the upcoming French presidential election. Technically now Gold is getting support at 28929 and below same could see a test of 28842 level, And resistance is now likely to be seen at 29124, a move above could see prices testing 29232.

Trading Ideas:

# Gold trading range for the day is 28842-29232.

# Gold rose buoyed by a weaker dollar on tepid economic data from the United States.

# A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity retreated from a 2-1/2 year high in March amid a decline in production and an inventory drawdown.

# Hedge funds and money managers raised their net long position in COMEX gold for the second straight week in the week to March 28, U.S. CFTC data.