The yellow metal started the week by trading near the 1,500.00 level.
In general, the metal was set to be supported by hourly simple moving averages, which could cause another surge to new high levels.
Economic Calendar Analysis
This week gold is bound to be affected by US data and an expected rate cut.
On Wednesday, October 30, the US ADP Non-Farm Employment Change data will be published at 12:30 GMT.
On the same day, the US Advance GDP will be published at 12:30 GMT. This is the top US GDP data release.
Moreover, the FOMC Statement and the Federal Funds Rate are scheduled to be published at 18:00 GMT.
On Friday, November 1, the US Employment data set will be on focus - the Average Hourly Earnings, the Non-Farm Employment Change and the Unemployment Rate data will be published at 12:30 GMT.
Also on Friday, the ISM Manufacturing PMI survey results will be published at 14:00 GMT.
For more detailed information take a look at the 28.10-01.11 Event Historical Reactions publication.
XAU/USD short-term forecast
On Friday, the XAU/USD exchange rate jumped to the psychological level at 1,515.00. During today's morning, the rate was trading at the 1,505.00 mark.
It is likely that some upside potential could prevail in the market, as gold is supported by the 55-, 100– and 200-hour moving averages in the 1,492.36/1,501.86 range. A possible upside target is the 1,515.00/1,520.00 area.
On the other hand, yellow metal could trade sideways against the US Dollar at the 1,505.00 mark within the following trading session. Also, it is unlikely that bears could prevail in the market, and the price for gold could drop lower than the psychological level at 1,490.00.
Hourly Chart
On the daily candle chart, the rate pierced the upper trend line of the junior channel down pattern and the 55-day simple moving average near the 1,506.30 level.
Daily Chart
Traders close short positions
Since Wednesday, 73% of open gold position volume on the Swiss Foreign Exchange was in short positions.
The sentiment changed on Monday, as 58% of volume was in short positions.
Meanwhile, in the 1000 base point range around the current metal's price the pending orders were bullish – 76% of orders were to buy and 24% to sell.