Gold Price Analysis: Bears take a breather after the $30 drop

Despite the recovery attempts, gold (futures on Comex) remains heavy below $1650, having tested the key support around $1640 region in the last hour.

The prices consolidate the steep declines, as the bulls seem to have found some support from the World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Tedros’s comments. Tedros finally declared the fatal respiratory illness as a pandemic, as the outbreak tightens its grip across the US and Europe. Over 117k people have been infected globally by the virus.

The safe-haven gold ignores the risk-aversion seen across the global equity markets amid growing concerns over the rapidly spreading coronavirus globally. Meanwhile, a lack of concrete economic stimulus package from the US to battle the outbreak also failed to impress the gold bulls.

The main driver behind the almost $30 drop in gold prices from the European session’s high of $1671.45 to the recent daily lows of 1642.75 is the solid rebound staged by the US Treasury yields that has eventually lifted the greenback broadly higher. The US benchmark 10-year Treasury yields jump nearly 8% to regain the 0.80% level while the US dollar index hit a fresh three-day high of 96.61, up 0.15% so far.

Further, adding to the negative sentiment around gold, holdings in the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF), SPDR Gold Trust, slipped 0.2% to 962.03 tonnes on Tuesday. Meanwhile, investors continue to lock in gains in the precious metal after the surge to the highest levels in seven years on Monday.

Markets look forward to the US House coronavirus relief bill and the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policy outcome for near-term trading impetus while coronavirus-related sentiment will continue to play a pivotal role.

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