· Gold prices held steady on Tuesday as investors awaited U.S. consumer price data due later this week to measure whether inflationary pressure is building, with a weaker dollar and a pullback in Treasury yields supporting the metal.
· Spot gold was unchanged at $1,835.41 per ounce by 0341 GMT, after hitting its highest since Feb. 11 at $1,845.06 on Monday.
· U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,836.90 per ounce.
· “Although gold extended higher earlier today, it’s struggling to continue building momentum and part of that is concern about inflation… it isn’t a given that those job numbers mean that the Fed won’t act,” DailyFX currency strategist Ilya Spivak said.
· There is significant resistance for gold within the $1,855-$1,875 area, while support is around the $1,800 level, Spivak said.
· Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were pinned below 1.6%, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.
· Making gold less expensive for other currency holders, the dollar index hovered close to a more than two-month low hit in the previous session after U.S. non-farm payrolls data on Friday showed jobs growth unexpectedly slowed in April.
· Bank of Japan policymakers warned of risks to the country’s economic recovery as pandemic curbs weighed on service consumption.
· Investors are waiting for the U.S. consumer price index report due on Wednesday to gauge inflationary pressure and the Federal reserve’s policy stance.
· Fed officials would like to see higher inflation, more wage growth and several months of strong employment gains before they consider adjusting monetary policy, Chicago Fed Bank President Charles Evans said on Monday.
· “The scope for further declines (in gold prices) may be modest,” HSBC analysts said in a note, adding that a decline in yields offers gold a chance to rally.
· Gold Price Outlook Turns to Fedspeak After Consumer Inflation Expectations Jitter
On the 4-hour chart below, gold remains in a near-term uptrend, defined by the bounce in late March. Having said that, falling resistance from 2020 is maintaining the broader downtrend. Negative RSI divergence does show that upside momentum is fading, which can at times precede a turn lower. This could consequentially place the focus on the 20-period Simple Moving Average.
· Palladium was little changed at $2,959.54 per ounce, silver was steady at $27.30, while platinum was down 0.1% to $1,245.68.
· New U.S. COVID weekly cases fall to lowest since September
New cases of COVID-19 in the United States fell for a fourth week in a row, dropping 17% last week to just under 290,000, the lowest weekly total since September, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county data.
Deaths from COVID-19 fell 1.3% to 4,756 in the week ended May 9, the fewest deaths in a week since July.
· India's seven-day COVID average at new high, WHO issues warning on strain
India's coronavirus crisis showed scant sign of easing on Tuesday, with a seven-day average of new cases at a record high and international health authorities warning the country's variant of the virus poses a global concern.
India's daily coronavirus cases rose by 329,942, while deaths from the disease rose by 3,876, according to the health ministry. India's total coronavirus infections are now at 22.99 million, while total fatalities rose to 249,992.
· Australia's Victoria on alert after first COVID-19 case in two months
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, DailyFX
Thai
Eng