Still, the metal remains just above fresh long-term lows, struggling amid a stronger
Gold prices continue to trade in volatile manner these days, with bearish bias persisting. On Thursday, the precious metal briefly dipped to February 2020 lows just below $1,680 before rebounding strongly as dip buyers entered the game at even more attractive levels. As a result, the XAUUSD pair jumped back above the $1,700 figure to finish 0.78% higher. The bullion retains a modest upside bias ahead of the weekend and looks set to finish in positive territory for the first time in six weeks.
Still, the metal remains just above fresh long-term lows, struggling amid a stronger dollar and persisting inflation concerns. The USD index jumped back above the 107.00 figure on Friday while trading lower on the weekly timeframes. The upside momentum has weakened somehow recently due to lower expectations for a 100-basis point rate hike by the Federal Reserve. So, should the central bank surprise markets by a hawkish decision, the US currency may receive a solid boost.
As a reminder, the ECB raised its interest rate by 1% on Thursday, thus triggering a short-lived but deep sell-off in the gold market. As such, the bullion remains pressured by fears over aggressive tightening by major central banks to tame inflation.
The technical picture shows gold remains bearish both in the short- and medium term, especially as the prices derailed the $1,680 support zone during the recent sell-off. Now, XAUUSD needs to regain the $1,740 intermediate barrier on the way towards the $1,765 zone, followed by the $1,800 mark last seen more than two weeks ago. On the downside, failure to hold above $1,700 would pave the way towards the fresh early-2020 lows.
