The gold price on Friday pulled back off the session highs of about $2,350 to trade at about $2,334. The price of the yellow metal continues to trade within an ascending channel formation in the 60-minute chart.

Despite the pullback, gold continues to trade slightly above the 100-hour moving average line. Friday’s pullback prevented the XAU/USD from ascending into the overbought levels of the 14-hour RSI.

Gold Price Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the XAU/USD is trading at the back of a relatively busy period in the US Market. On Friday, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for April missed the expected reading of 77.8 with a reading of 77.2, down from 77.9 in the preceding period.

The UoM 5-year inflation expectation for the period was in line with the estimate of 3%, unchanged from the previous update. On the other hand, the US personal consumption expenditures price index for March beat the forecasted (YoY) change of 2.6% with a change of 2.7%. The (MoM) equivalent was in line with the estimate of 0.3%.

The core personal consumption expenditures price index for the period also outshone the (YoY) forecast of 2.6% with a change of 2.8%, while the (MoM) equivalent matched 0.3%. Elsewhere, personal spending for March exceeded expectations of 0.6% with a change of 0.8%, while personal income was in line with the estimate of 0.5%.

Earlier in the week, the initial jobless claims for the last week beat 214k with a claim count of 207k. The preliminary core personal consumption expenditures prices for Q1 beat the (QoQ) estimate of 3.4% with a change of 3.7%, while the preliminary annualised US GDP for the period missed 2.5% with a change of 1.6%.

Gold Price Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the XAU/USD appears to be trading within an ascending channel formation in the 60-minute chart. However, the 14-hour RSI has recently pulled back to avoid rallying into overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bears will be targeting extended pullbacks at about $2,320 or lower at $2,305. On the other hand, the bulls will look to ride the current run of gains toward $2,350 or higher to $2,363.

Gold Price Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the gold price appears to be trading within an ascending channel formation. However, the 14-day RSI has recently pulled back to recover from overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bears will be targeting extended pullback profits at about $2,251 or lower at $2,169. On the other hand, the bulls will be targeting long-term profits at about $2,429 or higher at $2,501.