Gold Gains Strength Amid US Nonfarm Payrolls News

Gold inched lower on Monday, dragging the price of yellow metal to less than $1180 an ounce but appears solid in short to medium term after the release of US employment news. The technical bias however remains extremely bearish because of a lower low and lower high in the recent wave.

Technical Analysis

As of this writing, the precious metal is being traded near $1176 an ounce. A support may be seen around $1170, a key horizontal level ahead of $1160, the swing low of the last major downside move and then $1100, the psychological number.

On the upside, the yellow metal is expected to face a hurdle near $1188, the intraday high of today ahead of $1200-$1206, the confluence of psychological number as well as horizontal resistance area as demonstrated in the above chart. The technical bias shall remain bearish as long as the $1337 resistance area is intact.

US Nonfarm Payrolls

U.S. employers hired at a steady clip in November while the jobless rate fell to its lowest level in nine years, a broadly upbeat performance that could mask underlying soft spots in the labor market. U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 178,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%, the Labor Department said Friday. While the rate was the lowest since August 2007, it reflected some people finding jobs while even more dropped out of the workforce.

Trade Idea

Considering the overall technical and fundamental outlook, buying the precious metal around current levels appears to be a good strategy if we get a valid bullish reversal candle on the daily.