Precious Metals Are Moving Up!
After trending down for several days, the precious metals are recovering today and catching bids due to a combination of headlines. With Japanese Prime Minister Abe pledging to halt the Yen’s appreciation, a report was released declaring that Japanese pension funds plan to double their gold holdings in the next two years. Also in the region, the Shanghai Gold Exchange posted a new daily volume record of 19,505 kgs (627,085.75 ozs) in the benchmark 9999 bullion contract. Physical gold demand in China should remain robust ahead of the Chinese New year on February 10th. On to the European and US sessions, gold has been able to once again attract interest as a safe haven asset with rumors circulating in the market of a possible French credit downgrade.
As gold swept lower on Friday, it ended up holding right where it needed to around $1,630 (the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the broader move from the low in mid-May to the high in the beginning of October). It has since jumped higher in the last few days and is currently capped at the 200 day moving average of $1,661.
