· Gold held steady on Friday on worries that a prolonged Sino-U.S. trade war could worsen global economic slowdown, but a strong dollar put bullion on track for its first weekly loss in three.
· Spot gold was steady at $1,309.34 per ounce, as of 0320 GMT, after the metal hit its lowest since Jan. 29 at $1,302.11 on Thursday.
· U.S. gold futures were also unchanged at $1,313.10.
· "Some of our growth indicators are clearly seeing easing global activity and trade volumes are being hit. That makes people cautious and could derive support for gold around $1,300-$1,330 range," said John Sharma, an economist with National Australian Bank.
"The negative trade talk headlines saw some safe-haven buying re-emerge," ANZ analysts said in a note, adding that sharp falls in equity markets had been supportive for gold.
· Gold prices trade little changed around $1310 on Friday start. The yellow metal rose Thursday after comments from White House advisor raised doubts over the trade deal between the US and China. While overall market pessimism favors the bullion’s further advances, the recent strength of the US Dollar continues to be the drag worth mentioning.
In addition to growing uncertainties over the US-China trade deal, fears of global economic slowdown and Brexit also entertains the safe haven traders. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) were the first to convey their worries for global economic weakness during late last-month. The same concerns were repeated by major central banks and the European Commission off-late.
Immediate descending trend-line at $1311.30 seems nearby drag for gold prices with $1316.60, $1323.30 and $1326 acting as following resistances to watch.
Alternatively, $1303, $1300 and the $1297 may entertain sellers in a case of a pullback.
· Technically, April gold futures prices closed nearer the session high today. The bulls still have the overall near-term technical advantage. A 2.5-month-old price uptrend is still in place on the daily bar chart. Gold bulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at the January high of $1,331.10. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solid technical support at $1,300.00. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $1,323.60 and then at $1,331.10. First support is seen at today’s low of $1,306.40 and then at last week’s low of $1,302.70. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5
· More than 40% of Venezuela’s gold reserves were sold off last year alone, as President Nicolas Maduro cashed in to keep the government running, according to media reports citing Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Carlos Paparoni.
The gold was sold without the needed approval of the opposition-led National Assembly, Reuters said on Wednesday.
The money was used by Maduro to keep some of the government programs running as well as to transfer millions to bondholders, Bloomberg reported
· Among other precious metals, palladium stood firm at $1,386 an ounce, silver was down 0.1 percent at $15.70 and platinum was0.4 percent lower at $793.
Reference: CNBC, FXStreet, Kitco
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