Investing.com - Gold prices dipped modestly for a second day in a row, staying not too far from the key $2,00 an ounce level Tuesday, as Europe’s economic woes helped the preferred safe-haven hold its own against the dollar — even as reduced intensity in the Israel-Hamas war created less need for hedging.
Gold’s most-active futures contract on New York’s Comex, December, settled down $1.70, or 0.08%, at $1,986.10 per ounce. In the previous session, December gold dipped 0.3%, after a four-day run-up that added some $30 or 3% to the benchmark gold futures contract.
“Traders may once again be wondering whether a run toward $2,000 is on the cards,” said Crraog
The spot price of gold, more closely watched by some traders than futures, was at $1,973.49 by 15:10 ET (19:10 GMT), up 63 cents, or 0.03%, after a session low of $1,953.81.
Traders said gold might have closed down a little more if not for Europe’s economic woes. Data out of Germany on Tuesday suggested a recession was underway. Britain's businesses, meanwhile, reported another monthly decline in activity, highlighting recession risks ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate decision next week
On the Middle East front, diplomatic efforts convinced Israel to delay a ground assault on Gaza while the United States and other world powers negotiated the release of an estimated 200 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, the Palestine militant group.
Both the bears and bulls in gold seem astounded at how the yellow metal has embraced its safe-haven role in the conflict, leaving the dollar in the dust, as Comex futures went from mid-$1,800 an ounce to $1,900, $1,950 and finally $2,000 last Friday.
Many agree that another breach of $2,000 wouldn’t be impossible, with most technical charts indicating that spot gold will run to $2,010 at least and $2,080 on the high end.
Gold holding up despite 'triple-top'
But gold prices are also flagging something else: A triple top formation, which in market lingo shows three peaks that typically signal that an asset may have moved from rally mode to selloff.
Yet, some commodity technicians who have spent considerable time studying gold charts say the outcome might be surprisingly different.
“While triple tops are usually considered as potentially bearish formation, this time the scenario indicates an exception to the thumb rule,” said Sunil Kumar Dixit, chief technical strategist at SKCharting.com and a regular collaborator with Investing.com.
“The current price action seems to be waiting for a break above the horizontal resistance zone of $1,998 to prompt a rather quick run into the benchmark $2070-$2080 orbit.”
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this item)