Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD retreats towards $1,750 on Friday’s Gravestone Doji, firmer USD

• Gold fails to keep Friday’s gains following bearish candlestick formation.
• US jobs report triggered bounce off 10-DMA but Fed tapering concerns weigh on prices.
• Mixed concerns, partial off in US probe momentum traders, calling for pullback.
• Gold Weekly Forecast: XAU/USD on the back foot as NFP fails to alter taper prospects

Gold (XAU/USD) reverses Friday’s corrective pullback around $1,755, down 0.08% intraday as European traders brace for Monday’s bell.

The yellow metal jumped to a 13-day top following the disappointment from the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP). However, rethink over the overall jobs data and catalysts challenging the risk appetite to underpin the US dollar strength, favoring the gold bears.

The US Dollar Index (DXY) consolidates Friday’s losses around 94.13, up 0.04% on a day as disappointment from the US NFP combats favorable Unemployment Rate and Average Earnings to confuse traders. That said, NFP dropped to 194K versus 500K expected but the prior reading got an upward revision to 366K. On the same line, the Unemployment Rate dropped to 4.8%, versus 5.1% expected and 5.2% prior, soothing the pains, whereas Average Hourly Earnings also jumped past 0.4% expected and revised down previous readouts of 0.4% to 0.6%.

On a different page, the fresh Sino-American tussles over phase one deal commitments join concerns that the Feral Reserve (Fed) remains on the course to tapering as reflation fears mount to weigh on the market sentiment, underpinning the USD.

Against this backdrop, stock futures print mild losses tracking Wall Street while the Asia-Pacific shares trade mixed as a partial holiday in the US, as well as full off in Canada, restrict bond moves.

Moving on, a light calendar and an off in the key markets highlights risk catalyst for fresh impulse while firmer USD and bearish candlestick formation favor gold sellers.

Technical analysis

Gold remains on the back foot following the bearish candlestick formation flashed the previous day. However, 10-DMA and bullish MACD signals probe the metal sellers.

Hence, traders’ indecision could be witnessed until the quote seesaws between 50-DMA and 10-DMA, respectively around $1,778 and $1,753.

However, a daily closing beneath $1,753 will bolster the bearish momentum, backed by the stated candlestick formation. Following that, September’s low near $1,721 should return to the charts.

Meanwhile, an upside clearance of 50-DMA level surrounding $1,778 will need validation from the mid-September tops close to $1,808 before challenging the double-top surrounding $1,834.

Overall, gold prices grind lower with intermediate bounces.

Gold: Daily chart

Trend: Further weakness expected