Gold falls for second day, finds support at $1220

Stronger US dollar weighs on gold, Wall Street rebounds.
Gold found support above $1,220 but holds a bearish technical tone ahead of the Asian session.

Matías Salord FXStreet

A stronger US dollar pushed gold further to the downside as the metal continues to correct lower from the 3-month high it reached last week at $1,243/oz. On Tuesday, XAU/USD bottomed at $1,219 the lowest since October 18.

The move lower took place amid a stronger greenback. The US Dollar Index broke above 97.00, to the highest since June 2017. The recovery in equity prices in Wall Street limited the slide of the metal. The Dow Jones was up 1.77% near the end of the session.

Gold’s recovery from the lows was capped by $1,226 and then pulled back modestly. It was trading at $1,224 about to post the second slide in-a-row.

XAU/USD Technical outlook

Despite holding in positive ground, the daily chart indicates that the upward momentum is fading, notes Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, as the metal is currently pressuring the 100-day moving average, which stands not far above a bullish 20 SMA at 1,216. “Technical indicators in the daily chart remain far above their midlines, but continue retreating from nearly overbought readings with the RSI currently at 54, somehow anticipating further declines ahead”, adds Bednarik.

Ahead of the Asian session, she sees technical reading in the 4 hours chart skew the risk to the downside, with price below its 20 SMA, Momentum reaching fresh weekly lows and RSI steady at around 42.

Author

Matías Salord

FXStreet

Matías started in financial markets in 2008, after graduating in Economics. He was trained in chart analysis and then became an educator. He also studied Journalism. He started writing analyses for specialized websites before joining FXStreet.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.