Gold Gains Bullish Momentum As US Job Data Looms

Gold extended upside movement on Friday after rising broadly yesterday in the wake of downbeat US jobless claims report. The precious metal might hold a tight range today before the release of nonfarm payrolls and US unemployment rate figures later in the US session. The sentiment remains bullish due to Higher High (HH) in the recent upside rally.

Technical Analysis

As of this writing, the yellow metal is being traded near $1254 an ounce. A support may be noted around $1240, the low of the ongoing week ahead of $1231, the 76.4% fib level and then $1200, the psychological level.

On the upside, the precious metal is expected to face a hurdle near $1262 an ounce, the 61.8% fib level ahead of $1287, the 50% fib level and then $1342 which is the 23.6% fib level. The sentiment will remain bullish as far as the double bottom support area is unbroken.

US Job Data

The US labor department will release the nonfarm payrolls and jobless rate reports today. According to the average forecast of analysts, the nonfarm payrolls remained 218K in May as compared to 288K in the month before while the unemployment rate increased to 6.4% as compared to 6.3% in the month before, better than expected actual outcomes will be seen as bearish for gold and vice versa.

China Imports

The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China is due to release the imports data on Sunday. According to the median projection of different analysts, the imports remained 6.1% in May as compared to 0.8% increase in the month before, better than expected actual outcome is seen as bullish for gold because the Asian nation is the biggest importer of the yellow metal.

Conclusion

Considering the overall technical and fundamental outlook, buying the precious metal around the current levels appears to be a good option, the trade should however be stopped out on a daily close below the $1240 support area.