Gold flirting with lows, around $1317 ahead of NFP
• USD recovers some ground and prompts profit taking.
• Further weighed down by risk-on mood/positive US bond yields.
• US monthly employment details eyed for fresh impetus.
Gold traded with a negative bias through the mid-European session and is currently placed near session lows, around the $1317 region.
The US Dollar recovered some ground and staged a goodish rebound on Friday, which eventually triggered some profit-taking move around dollar-denominated commodities - like gold. Adding to this, a mildly positive tone around the US Treasury bond yields further collaborated towards exerting some downward pressure on the non-yielding metal.
Meanwhile, the prevailing bullish sentiment around global equity market did little to revive demand for traditional safe-haven assets and stall the precious metal's corrective slide from near 4-month tops, touched in the previous session.
Investors keenly await the release of keenly watched US non-farm payrolls data for some fresh directional impetus. A strong headline number would reaffirm expectations for gradual monetary policy tightening by the Fed and eventually prompt some additional profit taking slide on the last trading day of the week.
Technical levels to watch
Immediate support is pegged near $1312 level, below which the commodity seems to head back towards $1306-05 intermediate support ahead of the $1300 handle. On the upside, $1322-23 area might continue to act as an immediate hurdle, which if cleared could accelerate the up-move towards the $1238-29 region en-route $1332-34 supply zone.
Author
Haresh Menghani
FXStreet
Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.
