Precious Metals News Update - 17 April 2018

PRECIOUS METALS RANGES - Trade Date: April 16th

COMMENTS / HIGHLIGHTS:

• Precious metals were sent lower at the open of Far Eastern trading on Monday on a “buy the rumour, sell the fact” reaction, after a coalition comprising France, the UK and the US (FUKUS), delivered a precisely targeted military spanking to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (after the close of trading in Friday). The Syrian President, who stands right on the cusp of victory against ISIS terrorists within his country, allegedly carried out a chemical weapons attack against his own people, drawing the ire of the “international community” and a shower of 101 Tomahawk Cruise missiles. No deaths or injuries were reported. And the Russian Federation stayed its hand.

• Choppy trade followed throughout the European and US sessions with a modestly upward bias for the most part.

• In interview on the weekend, President Trump’s UN Ambassador had flagged the likelihood of further sanctions being applied against the Russian Federation, however the Washington Post cast doubt upon this course of action overnight, reporting that while further economic sanctions were being assessed, President Trump had not approved them and the White House confirmed that they had placed them “in a holding pattern”.

• The US President Tweeted toward the start of the US trading session that “Russia and China are playing the Currency Devaluation game as the U.S. keeps raising interest rates. Not acceptable!” which the markets perceived at bearish for the US Dollar (on fears of a devaluation “race to the bottom”).

• In the Far Eastern pre-market this morning, newswires carried reports that “SYRIA MILITARY OFFICIAL SAYS ISRAELI MISSILES TARGETED SHARYAT AIRBASE & SURROUNDING AREA”, which kept an underlying “bid” tone towards the precious metals prior to the commencement of trading in Asia.

TECHNICAL COMMENTS:

• XAU/USD: Dips are being well supported back towards the 21 Day moving average near the USD 1335 level and the market looks like it may edge its way higher towards the top end of its USD’s broader USD 1306 – 1365 sideways range. Buying dips back towards the current support in the mid USD 1330’s or selling rallies into the USD 1355 to 1365 region remain favoured for the present time.

• XAU/AUD: Textbook range trading continues in XAU/AUD. The market bounced aggressively away from support at the AUD 1715 / 1720 level on Friday (previous resistance of the mid-August 2017 to late March 2018 sideways trading range). With XAU/AUD presently located just above AUD 1730.00, better levels my present within the AUD 1715 to 1755 range to either ‘buy dips’ or ‘sell rallies’ depending on the favoured stance.

• XPD/USD: Last Thursday’s “Long Legged Doji” candlestick on the Daily chart presaged the commencement of a sustained move higher over recent sessions and with palladium reclaiming the technically significant 200 Day moving average on Friday and moving beyond the significant technical downtrend line (that commenced in mid-January this year) yesterday, it would be safe to say that the low at USD 897 (April 6th) has been “locked-in”, as sanctions against the Russian Federation continue to support prices. The 100 Day moving average at USD 1021 and the end of February corrective high at USD 1068 now present as the next technical objectives.

Good luck.

Regards,
Andre