Gold price trades with mild positive bias, remains below $2,650 horizontal barrier

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• Gold price ticks higher on Monday amid bets for another Fed rate cut in December. 

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• Geopolitical tensions and trade war fears further benefit the safe-haven commodity.

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• Expectations for a less dovish Fed underpin the USD and cap gains for the XAU/USD.

Gold price (XAU/USD) attracts some dip-buyers at the start of a new week and builds on Friday's bounce from the $2,614-2,613 area, though it remains confined in a familiar range held over the past two weeks or so. The US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report released on Friday reaffirmed expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will lower borrowing costs in December. This keeps the US Treasury bond yields depressed and acts as a tailwind for the non-yielding yellow metal. 

Apart from this, the cautious mood amid political disruption in South Korea, Geopolitical Tensions and trade war fears turn out to be other factors supporting the safe-haven Gold price. Meanwhile, rising bets that the US central bank would slow the pace or pause its rate-cutting cycle in January assist the US Dollar (USD) to build on Friday's modest bounce from a nearly one-month low. This, in turn, should keep a lid on any meaningful appreciating move for the XAU/USD. 

Gold price draws some support from safe-haven demand; upside seems capped

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• The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday that Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose by 227K in November, marking a notable rise from the previous month's upwardly revised reading of 36K and was better than the 200K expected.

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• Other details of the report revealed that the Unemployment Rate ticked up, as expected, to 4.2% during the reported month, from 4.1% in October, lifting bets that the Federal Reserve will lower rates by 25 basis points at its meeting this month.

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• The University of Michigan’s preliminary survey for December showed that the gauge of US consumer sentiment rose to 74.0 in December from the 71.8 previous and one-year inflation expectations climbed to 2.9% from 2.6% in November. 

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• Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack noted that the economic landscape calls for a modestly restrictive monetary policy, though said the market view of one more interest rate cut between now and late January was reasonable.

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• Adding to this, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly warned that despite data still leaning toward achieving the inflation target, the central bank might still step in with additional interest rate hikes if price growth begins to spiral once again.

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• Separately, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee stated that the labor market appears stable and that the progress on inflation is encouraging, while any pause in the rate-cutting would come if conditions in inflation or the labor market change. 

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• Meanwhile, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said that she would prefer that the US central bank proceeds cautiously and gradually in lowering the policy rate as the underlying inflation remains elevated, uncomfortably above the 2% target.

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• This comes amid hopes that US President-elect Donald Trump's expansionary policies will rekindle inflationary pressures and might force the Fed to adopt a less dovish stance, which, in turn, might cap gains for the non-yielding Gold price.

Gold price needs to move beyond $2,666 for bulls to seize near-term control

From a technical perspective, any further strength above the $2,648-2,650 supply zone is likely to confront some resistance near the $2,666 region. Some follow-through buying beyond the $2,672 hurdle will be seen as a key trigger for bulls and allow the Gold price to aim to reclaim the $2,700 round figure. The momentum could extend further towards the next relevant hurdle near the $2,722 area. 

On the flip side, weakness below the $2,630 immediate support could drag the Gold price back towards the $2,614-2,613 area. This is followed by the $2,605-2,600 support zone and the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA), around the $2,586-2,585 region. A convincing break below the latter should pave the way for deeper losses and expose the November swing low, around the $2,537-2,536 area.