Daily Times

Gold price is likely to face further loss this week despite losing over 5.5 percent last week on a weekly basis for the first time in a year.

After closing the previous week in the negative territory, gold remained under modest bearish pressure during the first half of the week and registered losses on Monday and Tuesday. With the US dollar gathering strength on Wednesday, gold extended its slide and lost nearly 5 percent in a two-day span to touch its lowest level in six weeks at $1,767 on Thursday. Although gold staged a correction ahead of the weekend and struggled to preserve its recovery momentum but failed and closed at $1,765.10 with a weekly loss of 5.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan decreased to Rs88,980 on the weekend.

During this week starting today (Monday), US Federal Reserves Chairman Powell will be testifying before the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis at 1800 GMT in a hearing entitled “Lessons Learned: the Federal Reserves’ Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” The chairman is unlikely to change his tone only a few days after the FOMC meeting and his remarks are unlikely to have a significant impact on the dollar’s valuation.

On Wednesday, the IHS Markit will publish the preliminary Manufacturing and Services PMI reports for June. The headline figures are expected to confirm the ongoing expansion at a robust pace both in the service and the manufacturing sectors. Investors, however, will keep a close eye on the underlying details with regards to input price pressures. In case these reports reaffirm the view that inflation will continue to rise, the dollar could gather additional strength and weigh on gold price.