Oil and Gold Enter the Holding Pattern

Oil and Gold entered a holding pattern overnight with quiet range trading ahead of key data.

Oil prices ended Tuesday with more of a whimper than a roar, with Brent and WTI falling around 40 cents to open in Asia at 55.80 and 49.80 respectively. An unexpectedly large drawdown of 4.079 million barrels from the American Petroleum Institute (API) crude inventories, was more than offset by an equally large 4 million plus build in gasoline stocks. It appears that the overhang of speculative long positioning is continuing to overhang oil markets although one suspects this has now been substantially reduced over the past week.

Traders’ will be watching tonight’s official Department of Energy crude inventory data for more clues with the street expecting a small drawdown of around 0.5 million barrels. An unexpected increase from this number could see more short-term pain for speculative longs, particularly in WTI.

Brent spot is perched just above support at 55.50 this morning, the bottom of the long-term resistance zone the contract took out last week. Failure here suggests a test of the 54.80 level ahead of trend line support for the entire June to September rally at 53.65 this morning. Resistance is at 56.60 and 57.00 although both levels now look unlikely to be seen in the Asia session.

Brent Daily

WTI spot has nearby support at 49.60 followed by a series of daily lows and the 200-day moving average at 49.25. A break of 49.25 implies a much deeper correction is on the cards to the 100-day moving average at 47.60. Resistance is at 50.50 initially followed by the 51.40 regions, a daily double top and the former trend line support that WTI broke on Monday.

WTI Daily

 

Gold

Gold ranged quietly overnight, climbing slightly to finish three dollars higher at 1275.00 as Asia trading gets underway. With China on holiday this week we would expect precious metals to be subdued in Asia. However, volatility should pick up in North America as we head into a data-heavy end of the week. The street appears to be on hold for just that given a general lack of volatility in markets overnight.

Gold has initial resistance at 1281.00 and then 1296.00 with the 100-day moving average, just below at 1272.00, serving as an intra-day pivot point. Below here, support appears at 1268.50 and then 1263.00 ahead of the 200-day moving average at 1251.00.

Gold Daily

 

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Jeffrey Halley

Jeffrey Halley

Senior Market Analyst, Asia Pacific, from 2016 to August 2022
With more than 30 years of FX experience – from spot/margin trading and NDFs through to currency options and futures – Jeffrey Halley was OANDA’s Senior Market Analyst for Asia Pacific, responsible for providing timely and relevant macro analysis covering a wide range of asset classes. He has previously worked with leading institutions such as Saxo Capital Markets, DynexCorp Currency Portfolio Management, IG, IFX, Fimat Internationale Banque, HSBC and Barclays. A highly sought-after analyst, Jeffrey has appeared on a wide range of global news channels including Bloomberg, BBC, Reuters, CNBC, MSN, Sky TV and Channel News Asia as well as in leading print publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He was born in New Zealand and holds an MBA from the Cass Business School.
Jeffrey Halley
Jeffrey Halley

Latest posts by Jeffrey Halley (see all)