XAU/USD gold futures suffered their biggest loss since early February yesterday as investors turned optimistic that the banking crisis may abate. Besides the Fed’s expectation to continue tightening monetary policy, traders’ early profit-taking also weighed on the yellow metal’s performance. This comes after gold surpassed the historic psychological resistance of $2,000 in daily trading on Monday.
XAU/USD gold futures fell to the level of 1936 dollars an ounce, before prices stabilized around the level of 1940 dollars an ounce, ahead of the announcements of global central banks led by the US Federal Reserve. This was the worst performance for the session in six weeks, but the price of gold is still higher by more than 6% since the beginning of the year 2023. In the same performance, the price of silver, the sister commodity to gold, failed to rise above the $23 resistance level. Silver futures fell to $22.42 an ounce. The price of the white metal has decreased by more than 7% since the beginning of the year 2023 to date.
In general, fears of a banking crisis faded on Tuesday ahead of the much-anticipated US central bank’s monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. The market expects the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to raise US interest rates by 25 basis points, although some experts have recommended that the institution leave the federal funds rate alone or lower the benchmark rate.
However, market analysts say that early profit-taking investors may have put pressure on prices while they wait to see what the Fed signals about moving interest rates forward.
As it is known, the precious metal is generally sensitive to interest rates because it affects the opportunity cost of acquiring non-yielding assets. However, industry watchers claim that 2023 will be a good year for gold prices as prices could exceed $2,100. With the possibility of the Federal Reserve’s rate hike campaign reaching its climax and the abundance of risks in the international economy, the gold market may find a lot of support over the next eight months.
A sluggish US dollar was capped by gold’s losses, with the US Dollar Index (DXY) falling to 103.31. A weak US dollar is good for dollar-denominated commodities because it makes it cheaper for foreign investors to buy them. As for other metals markets, copper futures rose to $4.0005 a pound. Platinum futures fell to $976.30 an ounce. Palladium futures fell to $1,385.00 an ounce.
- It was natural for XAU/USD gold prices to be exposed to profit-taking sales, as its recent consecutive strong gains were sufficient to push technical indicators towards strong overbought levels.
- The price of gold may remain in its current path until the reaction to the announcements of global central banks this week, led by a bank announcement.
- This is in addition to any developments in the course of the global banking system.
According to the performance on the daily chart, the XAU/USD gold price may be a new buying base, if it moves towards the support levels 1915 and 1885 dollars, respectively. On the other hand, and over the same time period, the bulls’ return to the $1985 resistance level will be important to expect gains that exceed its recent gains. The general trend of gold so far is upward.
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