Gold Technical Analysis: Struggles near YTD lows, NFP awaited for bearish confirmation

   •  The precious metal struggled to register any meaningful recovery and remained on the defensive for the third straight session on Friday, well within the striking distance of YTD lows set yesterday.

   •  Given the recent breakthrough an important $1278 horizontal support - coinciding with 200-hour SMA, the price action clearly suggests that the near-term bearish pressure might still be far from over.

   •  Oscillators on hourly/daily charts maintained their bearish bias and further reinforce the bearish bias for a possible slide towards $1260 intermediate support en-route the very important 200-day SMA.

   •  Traders, however, seemed to await today’s important release of the closely watched US monthly jobs report – popularly known as NFP, before positioning for the next leg of a directional (bearish) move.

Gold 1-hourly chart