The gold price on Friday pulled back off the current 2-week highs of about $2,380 to trade at about $2,363 after US data. The XAU/USD appears to be trading within an ascending channel formation in the 60-minute chart.
Despite the late pullback, the price of the yellow metal continues to oscillate above the 100-hour moving average line. Friday’s pullback pushed the gold price back to the normal trading range in 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 preliminary Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for May edged lower to 67.4 down from 77.2, missing the forecasted index of 76.
On the other hand, the preliminary UoM 5-year inflation expectation for May edged slightly higher to 3.1% up from the preceding month’s equivalent of 3%. On Thursday, the initial jobless claims for last week missed the forecast of 210k with a significantly higher tally of 231k, while the continuing claims for the preceding week beat 1.79 million with a slightly lower tally of 1.785 million.
Earlier in the week, the US wholesale inventories for March posted a change of -0.4% in line with expectations, and the same decline reported in the previous update. On the other hand, the MBA Mortgage Applications for the period grew by 2.6% versus a decline of 2.3% previously.
Elsewhere, US consumer credit for March missed the expectation of $15 billion with $6.27 billion, down from $15.02 billion in the previous period.
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 recover from overbought conditions.
Therefore, the bears will be targeting extended pullbacks at about $2,347 or lower at $2,329. On the other hand, the bulls will look to ride the current rally towards $2,380 or higher to $2,399.
Gold Price Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)
In the daily chart, the yellow metal appears to be about to complete an upward breakout from a descending channel formation. The 14-hour RSI has also bounced back to move closer to overbought conditions.
Therefore, the bulls will be targeting extended gains at about $2,429 or higher at $2,500. On the other hand, the bears will be targeting long-term profits at about $2,285 or lower at $2,212.