Precious Metals News Update - 11 April 2018
10 April 2018
PRECIOUS METALS RANGES: Trade Date: April 10th
COMMENTS / HIGHLIGHTS:
When the newswires carried comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping during the early part of Far Eastern trading that China was prepared to lower tariffs on motor vehicles and motor vehicle related products, in addition to lowering foreign ownership restrictions - effectively dissipating the heat out from the recent trade war rhetoric, stock futures rallied, the AUD rallied hard against the Greenback, XAU/USD drifted lower and XAU/AUD was crushed from AUD 1737 down to AUD 1725 in quick time.
The positive trade sentiment followed through into European trading and strong rebounds / technical mean-reversion from recent lows, were posted across the Platinum Group Metals (PGM’s) - i.e. platinum and palladium on the back of the Chinese news.
Further USD weakness was seen during the European session when Reuters quoted the ECB’s Nowotny stating that the “ECB could lift deposit rate to -0.2 pct from -0.4 pct to start process of rate hikes”
In addition to the ongoing trade war, a potential shooting war has dominated its fair share of the headlines in recent days. The odds of a US military response have shortened, while President Trump considers his options and members of the Administration stoke the already febrile atmosphere with aggressive, threatening rhetoric towards Syria (and Russia) on the basis of an as-yet unverified, un-investigated and alleged chemical weapons atrocity in the rebel held town Douma in Syria. Russia has already previously stated that “Military intervention under false & fabricated pretexts in Syria, where Russian servicemen stay at the request of the legitimate government, is absolutely unacceptable and may trigger the gravest consequences.”
TECHNICAL COMMENTS:
XAU/USD: Presently testing the upper boundary of a triangular congestion region at USD 1344, a close above which would open the way back towards the top end of the broader sideways trading band (i.e. the USD 1357 – 1367 zone).
XAU/AUD: Since its topside breakout beyond AUD 1715.00 (from its previously well-established sideways trading range), a nascent sideways trading range bounded by the previous resistance at AUD 1715 (which now acts as support) and the March 26th and April 2nd highs at AUD 1757.00, is presently in play in XAU/AUD and the market is currently holding support at its 21 Day moving average at AUD 1725.00.
Good luck.
Regards,
Andre
