Gold renews weekly top above $1660, as risk-off remains in vogue
- Gold jumps over 1% amid growing coronavirus risks.
- US 10-year Treasury yields slide back below 1% amid risk-off.
- Eyes on US NFP as markets expect another Fed rate cut this month.
Gold (XAU/USD) prices are enjoying a risk-off market profile in Thursday’s American trading, now printing a new weekly high at $1663.14, up 1.20% on the day.
Investors remain highly risk-averse and resort to protecting their capital in the traditional safe-haven gold, in the face of growing coronavirus risks and its negative economic fallout globally.
The risk-off mood intensified mainly after California Governor declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, which has heavily weighed down on the US Treasury yields and eventually on the US dollar across the board.
The US 10-year Treasury yields dive over 5% to record a new record low at 0.926 in the last hour, as the US dollar index hit a new two-month low of 96.90. The main US indices are down over 2%, at the momentum.
The precious metal is now on its way to test the February, 25 high of $ 1663.94, as the ultimate haven will remain underpinned by the risk-off flows amid looming virus risks.
Also, with markets believe the latest Fed rate cut being ineffective, another rate cut at its March 18th meeting cannot be ruled. The dovish expectations from the Fed as well as ECB will continue to offer support to the non-yielding gold support.
Next of relevance for the metal remains the key US non-farm payrolls data due on Friday at 1330 GMT while the disease-driven broader market sentiment will continue to remain the main market motor.
Gold technical levels to watch
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
