Gold Ends Up, Hits 10-Week High, as Bulls Gaining Technical Power
New York (June 24) Gold prices ended the U.S. day session slightly higher Tuesday and hit a 10-week high overnight. Safe-haven demand and a much-improved technical posture in gold recently are fueling upside price pressure. August Comex gold was last up $1.20 at $1,319.60 an ounce. Spot gold was last quoted up $1.20 at $1,320.00. July Comex silver last traded up $0.135 at $21.15 an ounce.
There was a heavy slate of U.S. economic data released Tuesday, including the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, the monthly house price index, new residential sales, the Richmond Fed business survey, and the consumer confidence index. However, these reports were not big markets-movers.
In other news Tuesday, the German Ifo consumer sentiment survey came in weaker than expected. The Ifo reading was 109.7 in June versus 110.4 in May. A figure of 110.2 was expected. Worries about the Iraq and Ukraine crisis weighed on German consumer sentiment. The downbeat Ifo report adds more weight to the notions that the European Union’s economy remains in serious trouble. This is also an underlying supportive factor for the safe-haven gold market.
The civil war in Iraq remains a market factor. While the matter could still be prompting some risk aversion in the market place and is still supportive for gold and U.S. Treasury prices, the U.S. stock indexes are hovering near record or multi-year highs, which hints risk aversion is not that keen at present. However, it’s likely the Iraqi crisis will not go away and could escalate at any time.
The London P.M. gold fix was $1,318.50 versus the previous A.M. fixing of $1,323.00.
Technically, August gold futures prices closed near mid-range and hit a 10-week high Tuesday. Gold market bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a three-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. The gold bulls’ next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at the April high of $1,331.00. Bears' next near-term downside breakout price objective is closing prices below solid technical support at $1,300.00. First resistance is seen at Tuesday’s high of $1,326.60 and then at $1,331.00. First support is seen at Tuesday’s low of $1,314.50 and then at this week’s low of $1,307.10. Wyckoff’s Market Rating: 6.0
December silver futures prices closed near mid-range Tuesday and hit another three-month high. The bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a three-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls’ next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the March high of $21.86 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at $20.00. First resistance is seen at Tuesday’s high of $21.255 and then at $21.50. Next support is seen at $21.00 and then at this week’s low of $20.86.
Source: Kitco News
