Gold Prices Caught in Range

The gold prices have been choppy over the last couple of days as the strength of the dollar waxes and wanes during this period. The gold prices have been having a tough time of late and the possibility of rate hikes from the Fed is only going to make things worse for the gold bulls. We have discussed about this possibility in many of our forecasts and it remains true now more than ever. The reason for this is the fact that the minutes from the last Fed meeting came out during the course of the week and it indicated that the Fed could be inclined for more than 3 rate hikes this year.

Gold Prices Hit Range

Three rate hikes for the year is what the market is expecting and this is what is being priced in at this point of time but as more and more incoming data from the US suggests more rate hikes, we are seeing the dollar continue to gain in strength and this has been hitting the gold prices very hard during the last couple of weeks. This is why we have been insisting the traders that they should be very careful while going long on the gold market. We now see the prices back in the 1330 price region and this is likely to be met with selling in this region in the short term. Unless the direction of the dollar becomes clear, we can only wait and see.

Oil prices have got a boost from the inventory data released from the US. With the lack of fundamental and economic data, the market has had to depend on the inventory and production data to base their decisions on and this has led to some choppy trading in the pair. There is likely to be a dearth of any fundamental changes over the short term and this is likely to keep a tight leash on the prices.

The silver market continues to consolidate over the last 24 hours and this is how the market has been moving for quite sometime now and we believe that this directionless trading is set to continue in the medium term.