International gold prices edged lower on Thursday amid a broad rebound in the US dollar. Gold in the international market was available at $1,778.80 per ounce after shedding $5.60 at 1325 hours GMT. The price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan, meanwhile, decreased to Rs101,500 after shedding Rs300. Gold in the local market was available at Rs101,800 per 10 grams on Wednesday last. According to experts, gold is performing range-bound and is unable to hold onto the upside amid a broad rebound in the US dollar. They said the mixed market sentiment is pushing the investors to find safety and certainty in the US dollar even as the US Treasury yields fade their recovery momentum. They said the traders refrain from placing any directional bet in the bright metal ahead of the all-important US inflation data due on Friday. They said the yellow metal portrayed a bearish candlestick the previous day amid mixed concerns over the South African Covid variant and its cure. News that leading Covid vaccines’ booster shots are effective against Omicron joined studies that the virus variant is less detrimental than the previous versions to favour previous risk-on mood. However, fresh virus-led lockdowns in Germany, France and the UK join the latest study from Japan saying four-time more transmissibility of the South Africa-linked COVID-19 strain to weigh on the sentiment. From a technical perspective, despite bouncing off a seven-week-old horizontal area, gold stays beneath the 200-DMA. The metal’s failures to cross short-term key hurdles join bearish MACD signals and Wednesday’s Doji candlestick to keep sellers hopeful.