On Friday, the gold price pulled back from the session highs of about $3,037 to trade at about $3,011 after the latest U.S. data. The XAU/USD also completed a downward breakout from a descending channel formation in the 60-min chart.

Gold has now fallen to trade a few levels below the 100-hour moving average line. As a result, the yellow metal is on the verge of entering the oversold conditions of the 14-hour RSI.

Gold Price Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental the XAU/USD trades during a relatively busy period in the U.S. market. On Thursday, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey for March came in better than expected with 12.5 versus a forecast of 8.5, down from the previous month’s equivalent of 18.1.

On the other hand, the initial jobless claims for the week ending March 14 edged higher to 223k, up from 220k in the preceding week, beating the forecast of 224k, while the existing home sales change for February came in at 4.2% (MoM) versus -4.7% in January. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve chose to keep the base interest rate unchanged at 4.5% in line with expectations.

Earlier in the week, the industrial production for February came in stronger than expected with a (MoM) change of 0.7% versus a forecast of 0.2%. The building permits for the month also beat 1.45 million with 1.456 million, while housing starts outshone 1.38 million with 1.501 million.

Elsewhere, retail sales for the period missed the expected (MoM) change of 0.7% with a change of 0.2% (MoM), while the retail sales ex-autos fell short of 0.5% with a change of 0.3% (MoM).

Gold Price Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the XAU/USD has completed a downward breakout from a descending channel formation in the 60-minute chart. The 14-hour RSI also supports a bearish bias as it edges closer to oversold conditions.

Therefore, the bears will look to stretch the current pullback towards $2,999 or lower to $2,985. On the other hand, the bulls will look to pounce on rebounds at about $3,024 or higher at $3,037.

Gold Price Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the yellow metal trades within an ascending channel formation. However, the 14-day RSI has recently pulled back to recover from the overbought conditions of the indicator.

Therefore, the bears will be targeting extended pullbacks at about $2,962 or lower at $2,908. On the other hand, the bulls will look to ride the current run of gains toward $3,060 or higher to $3,112.