24K99 News Monday (April 29th) morning trading in the Asian marketSlotsofvegasfreespinsSpot gold suddenly fell rapidly in the short term, with the price of gold plummeting nearly $15 from the level around $2337 / oz to as low as 2322Slotsofvegasfreespins.37 USD / oz, a new intraday low.
Analysts pointed out that a piece of heavyweight news from Israel further cooled market risk appetite, thereby dampening the trend of gold prices.
Israel may postpone ground attack on Rafah
According to the latest report in the Financial Times, Israel says it is willing to postpone a long-planned attack on Hamas's last stronghold in the Gaza Strip if an agreement can be reached to secure the release of the Israeli hostages.
Hamas reportedly said last weekend that it was studying a new proposal put forward by Egypt and Israel. Under the proposal, Israeli troops will stop fighting and withdraw further from Gaza in exchange for Hamas's release of 20 to 30 Israelis captured during the attack on the Jewish state on October 7.
An Israeli official says Israel has begun preparations for the evacuation of civilians in Rafah. Rafah is the southernmost city in Gaza and the last population center under Hamas control. In addition, Israel is expected to launch a ground attack "within weeks".
However, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the government would agree to postpone the invasion of Rafah if the ceasefire-for-hostage agreement works. Rafah is now home to more than 1 million displaced Palestinians.
Katz, a member of the ruling Likud party group, told Israel Channel 12: "if an agreement is reached,SlotsofvegasfreespinsWe will suspend the operation. "
Gold prices last week had their worst week since December after the Middle East crisis averted a major escalation.
Spot gold closed down 54% last week.Slotsofvegasfreespins.49 US dollars, down 2.28%, to close at 2337.64 US dollars per ounce.
David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures, said: "after a sharp rise in gold prices over the past few weeks, gold is now in consolidation."
"the gold and silver markets are adjusting as the conflict in the Middle East abates," said Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals.
Us PCE inflation data hits Fed interest rate cut expectations
On Friday, the Fed preferred inflation indicators, and US core PCE remained unchanged for two consecutive months in March, but rose faster than expected. Encourage the market to raise bets that the Fed will not cut interest rates this year.
The latest figures show that the US core PCE price index recorded an annual rate of 2.8 per cent in March, higher than the 2.7 per cent expected by the market. Core PCE rose 0.3% from last month, in line with Wall Street expectations.
The data came as continued red-hot inflation reports undermined investors' expectations of a Fed rate cut this year. The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged next week.
Federal Reserve Chairman Colin Powell has reiterated that the Fed will not cut interest rates until it is "more confident" about falling inflation. Powell said on April 16: "the recent data clearly do not give us more confidence, but suggest that it may take longer than expected to achieve that confidence."
Fed policymakers are expected to reiterate their position of keeping interest rates higher for a longer period of time at the meeting, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The hawkish stance of the Federal Reserve is positive for the dollar and has a negative impact on gold prices.
Swap traders now expect the Fed to cut interest rates only once this year, well below the 25 basis points cut about six times at the start of the year. Higher interest rates are usually negative for gold because it does not pay interest.
FXStreet analyst Eren Sengezer said the Fed will announce its monetary policy decision on Wednesday. The market expects the fed to leave the policy rate unchanged at 5.25% Mel 5.5%. The Fed is unlikely to provide any new hints about the timing of the policy shift in its statement.
Sengezer said that if Powell took a worried tone on recent inflation developments, the dollar could remain resilient against its competitors, limiting gold's upside.
Sengezer said $2300 an ounce (23.6% Fibonacci pullback from the most recent upward trend since mid-February) provided strong support. If it falls below this support, the next support is at US $2280 / oz (static level) and US $2240 / oz (38.2% Fibonacci withdrawal).
Nicholas Kitonyi, an analyst at FXDailyReport, said gold bears would seek profit-taking when gold fell back to around $2320 an ounce, or below $2305 an ounce.
The foreign exchange market is also getting attention right now. In early trading in Asia on Monday, the yen plummeted again, and the dollar / yen just broke through the 160 mark.
The Bank of Japan announced on Friday that it would keep its benchmark interest rate at 0-0.1%, in line with market expectations. The resolution was adopted by a ratio of 9 to 0. The latest statement from the Bank of Japan still said that it expected the current loose financial environment to continue, saying that "financial conditions have been loose."
There is speculation that Japanese authorities may start buying yen to support the yen after it fell to a more than 30-year low against the dollar. Bloomberg said that if the Japanese authorities take action, it could weaken the dollar, which could boost gold prices.
Goldman Sachs strategists say the risk of intervention will rise sharply if the yen continues to underperform other assets as it did on Friday.
At 09:16 Beijing time, spot gold was at US $2323.47 / oz.