Open interest in gold futures markets increased for the second session in a row on Thursday, this time by around 1.2K contracts according to preliminary readings from CME Group. Volume, instead, shrank for the second straight session, now by nearly 21K contracts.

Gold appears side-lined around $1820

Gold prices extended its multi-session decline on Thursday on the back of rising open interest and an extra pullback in volume. Against that, bullion is projected to maintain its current consolidative mood around the $1820 region per troy ounce for the time being.