Gold Under Pressure, Slips Below $1250

Gold has started the week with losses, trading on Monday at a spot price of $1243.77 an ounce in the North American session. In economic news, today’s only event was US Existing Home Sales, with the indicator slipping to 5.08 million, well below expectations.

Gold is traditionally sensitive to monetary policy decisions, and last week was no exception, as the metal jumped 2.2 percent at the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. A dovish policy statement in which the Fed downgraded its projected rate hikes in 2016 bolstered the metal. Gold has sparkled in 2016, gaining 17 per cent since the start of the year. The metal has been buoyed by uncertainty in the global markets, as the Chinese slowdown and collapse in oil prices have driven many investors away from risk and towards safe-haven assets such as gold.

As expected, the Fed opted to remain on the sidelines and did not raise interest rates, maintaining the benchmark rate at 0.25%. The Fed statement noted that the US economy remains vulnerable to an uncertain global economy, but added that the Fed expects to raise rates later in the year due to moderate growth and “strong job gains”. The statement was dovish in tone, a clear departure from the December meeting, when the Fed raised rates for the first time in nine years and talked about four rate hikes over the course of 2016. In just a short three months, global demand has weakened, precipitated by the Chinese slowdown, and US numbers have cooled in comparison to the economy’s torrid pace in the second half of 2015. If inflation and employment numbers push higher in next several months, a rate hike in mid-2016 seems a good bet.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

Monday (March 21)

• 10:00 US Existing Home Sales. Estimate 5.32M. Actual 5.08M

*Key releases are highlighted in bold

*All release times are DST

XAU/USD for Monday, March 21, 2016

XAU/USD March 21 at 12:40 DST

Open: 1253.18 Low: 1240.56 High: 1255.51 Close: 1243.77

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD posted losses in the Asian session and has been steady in the European and North American sessions
• 1255 is under pressure in resistance
• 1232 is providing support
• Current range: 1232 to 1255

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1232, 1205 and 1191
• Above: 1255, 1279, 1303 and 1322

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

XAU/USD ratio is showing long positions with a slight majority (54%). This is indicative of slight trader bias towards gold reversing directions and moving upwards.

This article 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 Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.