Gold (XAUUSD), Silver, Platinum Forecasts – Gold Retreats As Chinese New Year Holidays Begin

Gold Pulls Back As Dollar Moves Higher

Gold is losing ground as traders focus on stronger dollar. U.S. dollar gained ground against a broad basket of currencies in holiday-thinned session as traders reacted to the weak GDP report from Japan.

Chinese New Year celebrations may have a material impact on gold markets. Demand from Chinese investors played an important role in gold price rally, so their absence is a bearish catalyst for the market. Traders should note that Chinese investors would be absent for the whole week.

Traders should also monitor the second round of U.S. – Iran negotiations, which will be held in Geneva on Tuesday. In case U.S. and Iran fail to reach a deal, geopolitical premium will increase, which will provide support to gold and other precious metals.

From the technical point of view, gold remains stuck in a wide trading range between the support at $4880 – $4900 and the resistance at $5100 – $5120. In case gold declines below the $4880 level, it will head towards the next support, which is located in the $4670 – $4690 range. On the upside, a successful test of the resistance at $5100 – $5120 will push gold towards the $5450 level.

Silver Remains Stuck Below The $78.00 Level

Silver moved lower as gold/silver ratio climbed above the 65.00 level. It should be noted that silver markets may stay choppy due to holidays in China and Presidents’ Day in the U.S.

From a big picture point of view, silver prices are trying to find support after the strong pullback from historic highs. Traders buy strong pullbacks, but it looks that silver bulls are not ready to push prices higher in absence of significant catalysts.

Stronger dollar may present a problem for silver bulls as worries about the fate of the American currency served as one of the key catalysts that triggered the huge rally in silver markets.

That said, it remains to be seen whether U.S. dollar is able to gain sustainable upside momentum in the upcoming weeks.

Silver settled below the nearest resistance level at $78.00 – $79.00. If silver climbs above the $79.00 level, it will gain additional upside momentum and move towards the next resistance at $87.00 – $88.00.

On the support side, a move below the $71.00 level will likely trigger a sell-off that will push silver towards recent lows near the $64.00 level.

Platinum Tested The $2000 Level

Platinum is losing ground amid pullback in precious metlas markets. Interestingly, palladium managed to gain strong momentum in today’s trading session. The metal gained as much as 3.40%, but this move did not provide any support to platinum prices.

Platinum made an attempt to settle below the psychologically important $2000 level, but this attempt yielded no results. In case platinum settles below $2000, it will move towards the nearest support at $1880 – $1900. RSI is in the moderate territory, and there is plenty of room to gain additional downside momentum in the near term.

On the upside, platinum needs to settle above the resistance at $2040 – $2060 to gain sustainable momentum. In case platinum climbs above the $2060 level, ti will head towards the 50 MA at $2164. A move above the 50 MA will open the way to the test of the resistance level at $2245 – $2265.

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