On Thursday gold for delivery in December traded within the range of $1,113.30-$1,119.00. Futures closed at $1,114.20, falling 0.12% on a daily basis and marking a fifth consecutive trading day of losses. On Wednesday the commodity slumped to lows unseen since September 16th.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for delivery in December were losing 0.52% for the day to trade at $1,107.90 per troy ounce. The yellow metal overcame the lower range breakout (S4), as it slipped as low as $1,107.50 earlier today to mark its lowest level since September 15th, when a daily low of $1,103.00 was hit. The latter may be a possible level of support.
The commodity has recently been under pressure by uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve Bank will introduce the first rate hike in a decade. A raise in borrowing costs would have a considerable bearish effect on gold, as it would lose its appeal over other higher-yielding assets to risk-seeking investors.
On Wednesday Fed Chair Janet Yellen stressed on the “significant improvement” US economy has demonstrated in the past few years, but, however, she did not go into details on the topic less than a week after she announced an initial increase in the target range for the federal funds rate later in 2015 would still be appropriate.
Market players now focus on the key US employment data, scheduled for release at 12:30 GMT today. Employers in all sectors of economy in the United States, excluding the farming industry, probably added 203 000 new jobs in September, according to the median forecast by experts, after a job gain of 173 000 in August. The latter has been the lowest figure since March 2015, when 126 000 new jobs were added. Employment in health care and social assistance increased by 56 000 jobs in August, while financial activities sector added 19 000 jobs. Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up, adding 33 000 jobs in August, as well as the food services and drinking places segment, where 26 000 positions were added. On the other hand, manufacturing employment shrank by 17 000 in August, while mining employment dropped by 9 000, according to the report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Better-than-expected numbers would have a bullish effect on the US dollar and a bearish effect on gold, respectively.
Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels
By employing the Camarilla calculation method, the daily pivot levels for gold are presented as follows:
R1 – $1,114.72
R2 – $1,115.25
R3 (range resistance) – $1,115.77
R4 (range breakout) – $1,117.34
S1 – $1,113.68
S2 – $1,113.16
S3 (range support) – $1,112.63
S4 (range breakout) – $1,111.07
By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly pivot levels for gold are presented as follows:
Central Pivot Point – $1,141.47
R1 – $1,160.43
R2 – $1,174.87
R3 – $1,193.83
S1 – $1,127.03
S2 – $1,108.07
S3 – $1,093.63