Gold trades lifeless ahead of the US payrolls report

Gold is trading comatose in Asia as traders remain on the sidelines ahead of the crucial US non-farm payrolls release.

At the mercy of action in the US dollar

After staging a decent recovery from yesterday’s low at $1302.38, and having suffered losses in the second half of August, the precious metal remains a slave to the movement in the USD. The disappointing US ISM manufacturing PMI released yesterday led to a drop in the USD and a recovery in gold prices.

The focus remains on the Jobs and wage growth data. It remains to be seen how markets react to the August NFP figure, given the data has proved to be notoriously unreliable over the past few years.

Gold Technical Levels

Breach of initial resistance at $1323 (Aug 29 high) could yield a more pronounced rally to $1340.50 (Aug 26 high), which may could be extended to $1354 (Aug 18) in case the US data is a big miss on expectations.

The immediate support can be seen at $1308 (Aug 30 low), followed by the psychological support at $1300. A violation there could trigger fireworks, as bulls would be forced out of the market, thus leading to a quick fire drop to $1281.10 (June 16 high).