Since the middle of Monday's European trading hours, the yellow metal has traded between the 55 and 100-hour simple moving averages. The situation changed on Tuesday morning, as the rate passed the support of the 100-hour SMA.
However, this did not result in the previously expected decline to the support of the 23.60% Fibonacci retracement level at 1,860.60 and the 200-hour SMA near 1,857.50.
The week of Christmas is set to have an early market closing on Thursday in many countries and reduced liquidity due to people being on holidays.
Namely, on Tuesday, the US Final GDP could cause volatility. Last but not least, on Thursday, the US Durable Goods Orders and Core Durable Goods Orders data will be released. All of the data releases of the week are scheduled to occur on 13:30 GMT.
Click on the link below to find out more about the data releases of this and other currency exchange rates.
XAU/USD short-term forecast
Since Tuesday, the XAU/USD exchange rate has been trading below the resistance provided by the 55-hour SMA near 1,883.00.
If the predetermined resistance holds, it is likely that some downside potential could prevail in the market. The price for gold could target the 1,835.00/1,845.00 range.
Meanwhile, note that yellow metal could gain support from the 200-hour SMA and the Fibo 23.60% near 1,860.00. If the given support holds, gold could trade sideways against the US Dollar.
Hourly Chart
On the daily candle chart, the yellow metal has passed the resistance of the 55-day simple moving average, which kept the bullion down since early December. Next resistance on the daily candle chart was the 100-day SMA, which was located at the 1,906.25 level. This SMA could move lower and strengthen the 1,900.00 mark.
In the meantime, a new channel pattern has been added to the chart. Namely, there is a channel up pattern that captures the metal's December recovery.
Daily Candle Chart
Sentiment is unchanged
Since Monday, on the Swiss Foreign Exchange the sentiment was bullish, as of total open position volume 57% was long.
Meanwhile, in the 1000-pip range around the metal's price the pending orders were 72% to buy the metal.