- Market sentiment is 54% bearish
- 73% of pending orders in 1000-pip range are set to BUY gold
- Non-Farm Employment Change
The price movement for the XAU/USD pair has been pressured by the 55- and 100- hour SMAs.
The Automatic Data Processing, Inc. revealed better-than-expected data in the US non-farm employment data in March.
Employment in private sector increased by 241,000, continuing the momentum in the Q1 2018, adding more jobs per month than on average in 2017, said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute.
He added that the manufacturing sector increased in its strongest pace during the last three years.
Non-Farm Employment Change
This week has been a disappointment for fundamental traders. The reason is the fact that almost all the US data released has hit or near the forecasts and caused only minor fluctuations in the markets.
However, the big event is scheduled at 12:30 GMT today, namely, the US Non-Farm Employment Change which will be covered by the Dukascopy research term on bank live webinar.
XAU/USD bears are in control of the market
Following a breakout of a five-week ascending channel early on Thursday, the yellow metal was unable to fall below the 1,324.00 mark. As a result, it remained near its bottom line for the whole session.
The pair tried to push higher during the Asian session; this move, however, was stopped by the strong resistance of the 55-, 100– and 200-hour SMAs and the 23.60% Fibo. It is expected that the long-term moving average which sets the highest point of this cluster is not breached.
The strength of this resistance barrier suggests that Gold is more likely to decline during this session. There is still some significant downside potential, as the nearest support is set by the distant 38.20% Fibo retracement at 1,316.67.
Hourly Chart
The XAU/USD pair continue to be trading in a junior descending channel.
Daily Chart
SWFX traders still remain bearish
SWFX market sentiment remains bearish, as on Monday 54% of traders were short. Meanwhile, pending commands were bullish, as 73% of all set up orders were to BUY.
OANDA traders are no longer short, as 59% of open positions were long. In addition, Saxo bank traders are going long in 54% of all cases.