Gold and company recovered from early losses on Friday buoyed by weak economic data as gold settled above the 200-day moving average at $1,217.00, which technically points to further gains ahead. Silver continues to impress as it settled above $17.50 on good physical demand throughout the day. Trading resumed yesterday with good physical demand in the Asia Pacific market highlighted by reports of very strong demand in India as gold and silver have recorded intraday highs of $1,232.00 and $17.77.
Looking at the week ahead, all eyes will be on the Wednesday release of the FOMC minutes from their April meeting. On the back of a run of weak economic data. talk is growing that a rate hike could now be pushed off until 2016, which has weakened the USD and given life to our market. Confirmation of the FOMC’s concern about the state of the U.S. economy with a dovish tone in the minutes could propel gold beyond $1,250.00, while a surprisingly hawkish tone could see us revisiting $1,185.00 very quickly.