Precious Gold rose on Thursday after dropping to 10-week low as lower than forecast U.S. housing data and unrest in Ukraine enhanced safety demand on the metal.
Housing data, existing and new home sales for March, released this week from the U.S. came lower than forecasts, following a parade of upbeat economic data.
The focus will remain on U.S. fundamentals as investors aim to gather clues about the strength of recovery, ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting on monetary policy.
Later in the day, eyes will track U.S. durable goods and jobless claims. Analysts predict 2.0 percent advance in durable goods orders in March while initial jobless claims will probably show a rise to 315,000 in the week through April 19 from 304,000 a week earlier.
Whilst markets are near sure the Fed would continue with stimulus reduction at the same pace of $10 billion a month, there is lack of confirmation regarding the timing of raising interest rates.
On the political side, Russia has warned that any aggression on its citizens on Ukraine is considered an attack on Russia itself, while Ukraine continue with its antiterrorist operations against pro-Russian separatists.
The escalating situation in Ukraine suggest that the deal reached last week with Russia ease tensions was headed for failure.
Meanwhile, gold is trading around $1285.64 an ounce after hitting a high of $1286.098 and a low of $1282.98.
The metal as found support after hitting $1280 yesterday, noting that a breakout to the this level would widen the metal’s losses, while, on the other hand the price may face resistance at $1297.42, which represents Daily SMA 20.
The U.S. dollar extended its drop for a third session versus a basket of major currencies to hover around 79.85, falling from a high of 79.94.
Crude Oil for June’s delivery inched up to trade around $101.60 a barrel from the session’s opening of $101.52.