gold

GBPUSD at Seventh-Month Highs, Gold Retreats

Asian indices started the week on positive foot after Wall Street indices ended close to all-time highs on Friday as optimism returns on trade talks and ahead of the December 15th deadline of additional tariffs on China imports.

The Nikkei 225 index ended 0.33% higher at 23,355. The Hang Seng index is 0.06% higher at 26,509. The Singapore FTSE Straits Times Index ended 0.08% lower at 3,191 while the Shanghai Composite is 0.03% lower at 2,911. The ASX 200 finished 0.34% higher at 6,730.  

European indices started higher, DAX trading 0.29% higher at 13,092, the CAC40 is 0.53 per cent higher at 5,832 while the FTSE MIB in Milan is 0.31 per cent higher at 23,037. In London, FTSE 100 is 0.82% higher at 7,195. 

In commodities markets, crude oil trades 0.93 per cent lower at $58.65 around two-month highs after OPEC agreed to cut crude oil output by 500,000 barrels per day until June. Brent oil is trading 0.85% lower at $63.84 per barrel as oil world demand will be affected by the global growth slowdown.

Gold price trades lower at 1,462, after stronger NFP data, as the short term turns neutral after the gold price trades above the 20-day moving average but below the 50 and 100-day moving averages. On the upside, resistance stands at 1,555.13 YTD high while support is at 1,448 the recent low.       

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin trades higher at 7,450, hitting the daily low at 7,426 and the daily high at 7,550. Bitcoin momentum is still bearish as the cryptocurrency trades below the 50 and 200-day MA. Immediate support for bitcoin stands now at $6,510 recent low, while the next support holds at 6,000 round figure.

On the upside, resistance stands at 9,925 high and then at 10,000 round figure. ETHUSD trades higher at 148.31 with capitalisation now to 16.25 billion, immediate resistance for Ethereum stands at 200 recent high while the support stands at 139.71 daily low, Litecoin also trades lower at 44.79. The crypto market capitalization stands at $202.62 billion.

In the Lookout: Japan GDP (quarter over a quarter) came in at 0.4%, beating forecasts of 0.2% in the third quarter, the Japan Gross Domestic Product Deflator (year over year) came in at 0.6% in line forecasts. The Japan Current Account n.s.a. came in at ¥1816.8B topping forecasts of ¥1797.8B in October. 

Japan Bank Lending (year over year) came in at 2.1%, above expectations of 1.9% for November. While the Japan Eco Watchers Survey, Current came in at  39.4 beating forecasts of 39.3 in November. the Outlook came in at 45.7 also above expectations of 40.5 in November. 

In New Zealand, the Manufacturing Sales came in at -0.3%, topping expectations of -0.8% in the third quarter. 

The central bank of China (PBOC) set the Yuan reference rate (USDCNH) at 7.0405 versus yesterday’s settlement at 7.0383.

 

Trading Perspective: In forex markets, the USD index trades 0.03 per cent lower at 97.65, the AUDUSD trades 0.18 per cent lower at 0.6827, while NZDUSD trades 0.09% lower at 0.6557. USDCHF is 0.04% higher at 0.9903.

seven-month highs
GBPUSD Daily Chart

GBPUSD trades 0.21% higher at 1.3159 making fresh seven-month highs as we are getting closer to the general election and the Brexit deadline on January 31st, 2020. The first support for the pair now stands at 1.2578 recent low which if broken, might accelerate the slide further towards 1.20. On the other hand, immediate resistance will be met at 1.3180 recent high.

EURUSD trades 0.02% higher at 1.1062 as the pair’s momentum has turned neutral for the short term. The first resistance for the EURUSD stands at 1.1172 recent high. On the downside, the first support is at 1.1053 today’s low and then at 1.1003.

USDJPY is trading 0.04% higher at 108.51 having hit the daily low at 108.42 and the daily high at 108.65. USDJPY pair will meet support at 104.44 the low from August 23rd. On the upside, resistance for the USDJPY now stands at 109.07 recent high.

seven-month highs
USDJPY Daily Chart

USDCAD is trading 0.08% higher at 1.3258, the pair will find support at 1.3017 2019 low while extra support stands at 1.30 round figure. On the other hand, resistance will be met at 1.3355 the high from September 3rd before an attempt to 1.3450 top from 31st May.