Daily Times

The gold prices snapped a two-week winning streak and dipped by 2.40 percent last week, with the near-term outlook seeming bearish.

The gold prices in the international market decreased from $1,835.6 to $1,791.7 per ounce last week. Gold climbed to its highest level since November at $1,853 on Wednesday but ended up losing more than 3 percent from that level to close the week deep in the negative territory and is poised for further losses.

Meanwhile, the price of gold in Pakistan decreased by 2.02 percent last week. The price of 10 grams gold decreased from Rs104,000 to Rs101,900 during the last week. The relatively lower decrease in local gold price was due to the rupee’s 0.3 percent depreciation against the US dollar during the period under review. The rupee depreciated against the American currency from 176.24 to 176.77 during the aforementioned period.

Gold started the week on a positive note as the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield inched down on Monday, allowing gold to build on the previous week’s gains. The yellow metal remained on its upward slide on Tuesday and advanced beyond $1,850 for the first time in nearly two months. The positive trend continued till the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated to go with its plans to increase interest rate by 50bps in March. This triggered a dollar rally, which gave a boost to the treasury bond yields and caused gold to fall sharply. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield rose more than 5 percent and reclaimed 1.8 percent level, after edging lower towards 1.7 percent earlier in the week.

Moreover, reports about recovery in the US economy and a rise in the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index supported the dollar and forced gold to extend its slide.

From a technical perspective, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator on the daily chart stays below 50 and well above 30, which shows a bearish trend intact. The level is not technically oversold unless the RSI remains above 30, so any near-term bullish bias is out of question so far. Gold broke below the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) and the 100-day SMA, confirming the bearish bias. Both RSI and SMA factors suggest that buyers are staying on the sidelines for the time being.

On the downside, the key support area seems to have formed around the $1,770 region. A daily close below this support could open the door for an extended correction towards $1,755. Any further dip could extend losses to the 1,730 level. On the flip side, if the corrective downside ends with formation of the 100-day SMA, then gold will face resistance at $1,795. The next level of resistance will be the $1,800 psychological level.