Gold steadies near $1290 as risk-off mood offsets USD strength

December inflation figures meet expectations in the U.S.
US Dollar Index recovers daily losses, turns positive above 95.50.
Wall Street looks to snap 5-day winning streak.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

After climbing to the $1295 area earlier in the day, the XAU/USD pair came under strong bearish pressure in the early NA session and slumped to $1287 before finding support and going into a consolidation phase. As of writing, the pair was up 0.3% on the day at $1290.

Today's data from the U.S. showed that the core CPI, which strips volatile energy and food prices, increased 2.2% on a yearly basis in December to match November's reading and the market expectation. With data not offering any surprises, the US Dollar Index stayed relatively quiet. However, a sudden buying wave hit the currency and lifted the US Dollar Index to its highest level of the day at 95.76 to weigh on the XAU/USD pair.

On the other hand, with major equity indexes in the U.S. having a hard time carrying the rally into a 6th day on Friday, the risk appetite weakened and helped the precious metal retrace its drop. At the moment, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both down around 4% and the Nasdaq Composite was losing 0.67% on the day.

Technical levels to consider

XAU/USD

Overview:
    Today Last Price: 1289.8
    Today Daily change: 3.5e+2 pips
    Today Daily change %: 0.272%
    Today Daily Open: 1286.3
Trends:
    Previous Daily SMA20: 1271.77
    Previous Daily SMA50: 1243.49
    Previous Daily SMA100: 1227.63
    Previous Daily SMA200: 1229.07
Levels:
    Previous Daily High: 1297.15
    Previous Daily Low: 1286.25
    Previous Weekly High: 1298.42
    Previous Weekly Low: 1276.82
    Previous Monthly High: 1284.7
    Previous Monthly Low: 1221.39
    Previous Daily Fibonacci 38.2%: 1290.41
    Previous Daily Fibonacci 61.8%: 1292.99
    Previous Daily Pivot Point S1: 1282.65
    Previous Daily Pivot Point S2: 1279
    Previous Daily Pivot Point S3: 1271.75
    Previous Daily Pivot Point R1: 1293.55
    Previous Daily Pivot Point R2: 1300.8
    Previous Daily Pivot Point R3: 1304.45

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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