Good morning traders,

The precious metal GOLD prices closed at 1,834.77, after placing a high of 1,849.98, and a low of 1,828.66. The failure to breach the significant $ 1,850 level on Thursday prompted technical selling in gold. The ever-present vaccine chatter has driven optimism and pushed investors into overlooking the weak US jobs data. The fresh wave of coronavirus infections and the resulting lockdowns in an attempt to stop the spread of infections, resulted in increased unemployment benefit payments last week. The gold prices initially rose after the jobs data on Thursday, but they failed to surpass the resistance level of $ 1,850, which urged investors to start technical selling.

On the data front, at 18:30 GMT, the CPI figures for November came out, indicating a rise to 0.2%, against the expected 0.1%, lending support to the US dollar and weighing on the gold prices. For November, the Core CPI also surged to 0.2% against the projected 0.1%, boosting the greenback and adding to the losses in the yellow metal. The Unemployment Claims from last week surged to 853K, against the projected 723K, weighing on the US dollar. The jobless claims from the US increased to the highest weekly total since September 19, reflecting the recent struggles on the job market, as the number of coronavirus cases has spiked and local and state governments have imposed restrictions on some activities.

Meanwhile, in response to a stronger Euro, the US dollar was weak across the board, against a basket of six major currencies. On Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced more stimulus measures, including the increase and expansion of its debt purchase scheme to help the region’s economy cope with the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday’s move by the ECB, to issue more stimulus measures, is an effort to lift the currency bloc out of a double-dip recession and provide support to the economy, while 350 million people wait for the distribution of coronavirus vaccines.

Furthermore, on Thursday, an independent committee of experts recommended that the Food and Drug Administration should authorize Pfizer and BioNtech’s coronavirus vaccine for people over the age of 16. Now, the FDA will decide whether to follow this recommendation and the agency could announce a decision within days. Initially, healthcare workers could begin receiving the shots almost immediately after the vaccine is given the thumbs up.

The optimism generated by the vaccine news rose in the market once again, dampening the risk-off market sentiment and ultimately causing the gold prices to drop. However, the losses also remained short, as the volume of trade in the market has become steady, due to a lot of investors becoming more cautious as we head into the holidays.

Support               Resistance

1,819.16               1,866.86

1,799.83              1,895.23

1,771.46               1,914.56

Pivot Point:        1,847.53

 GOLD is currently trading at the 1,836 level, facing immediate resistance at 1,840, and above this, the next resistance remains at 1,851, along with support levels of 1,830 and 1,824. A neutral bias prevails. Good luck!