XAUUSD/GOLD: Gold remains offered below 3300Gold gave up Thursday’s gains and fell back toward the 3260 per troy ounce level by the end of the week, as improving market sentiment — driven by hopes for positive progress in the US-China trade dispute — weighed on safe-haven demand.
The overheated gold rally appears to be due for further cooling. Traders seem to be buying into rumors that a trade agreement between the US and China could be reached soon, even though China has publicly refuted those claims. The risk is that markets may be misreading the US’s language regarding whether the two sides are merely "talking" or actually "negotiating," which could mean that a deal remains far off — potentially leading to another move back toward 3500.
From a technical perspective, the daily Pivot Point at 3335 is the first key upside level that needs to be regained. Early in Friday’s session, there was a brief attempt to test the R1 intraday resistance near 3381. Should momentum continue, gold prices could extend the rally toward the R2 resistance at 3414, breaking above the 3400 mark.
On the downside, the S1 support was briefly breached this morning, but price action has since recovered back above it at 3302. Below that, the S2 support at 3256 comes into focus, followed by the key technical floor near 3245, which aligns with the April 11 high.
