Bulls hold grip but continue to face strong headwinds

Bulls are consolidating under one-week high ($1821) posted after a 1.7% rally on Tuesday, with near-term action being biased higher, though bulls face headwinds and the action remains congested at this zone for the third straight week.
Fundamentals point to overall positive signals, as the Fed showed more hawkish than expected stance in the latest meeting, but the central bank is probably in the late tightening cycle of policy tightening, which is seen as supportive for the metal.
On the other hand, positive signals are still too light to spark more significant rise of gold price, which would require at least a pause in tightening, or perhaps rate cuts.
Technical studies are mixed on daily chart, with bullish configuration of moving averages being countered by fading bullish momentum, suggesting that the action may continue to move within the range.
Initial supports lay at $1800/$1797 (psychological / 10DMA), followed by converging 200/20 DMA’s ($1784/83) and range floor at $1773.
Range top ($1824, Dec 13 peak, the highest since June 30, reinforced by upper 20-d Bollinger band) marks strong barrier, followed by $1842 (50% retracement of $2070/$1614).
Lower volumes in pre-holiday mode also point to calmer action in coming days.

Res: 1746; 1754; 1767; 1786
Sup: 1800; 1788; 1784; 1773