Gold Back Above $1,300 On Short-Covering, Bargain-Hunting

(Kitco News) - Gold priceswere firmer and pushed back above the key $1,300.00 level in early-afternoonU.S. trading Tuesday. Some short covering in the futures market and bargainhunting in the cash market were featured, following recent selling pressure.Metals traders are looking for some new fundamental news to help drive prices. August Comex gold futures were last up $5.50 an ounce at $1,302.80. July Comex silver was last up $0.119 at $16.55 an ounce.

TheU.S. stock indexes are at or near 2.5-month highs early this week, as tradersand investors are in generally upbeat, risk-taking moods at present. The lackof risk aversion in the marketplace at present has been bearish for safe-havengold and silver markets.

Sofar early this week, the marketplace is mostly looking past U.S. tensions withits major trading partners that threaten to boil over into a worldwide tradewar. Such could change in a hurry, however.

Thekey “outside markets” today find Nymex crude oil prices firmer on a correctivebounce and trading just above $65.00 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is weakertoday on a corrective pullback from recent gains that last week pushed pricesto a 10.5-month high.

Technically,the gold market scored a bullish “outside day” up on the daily bar chart today.Gold prices are still in a two-month-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Thegold bears still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Goldbulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a closeabove solid technical resistance at the May high of $1,332.40. Bears' nextnear-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solidtechnical support at the May low of $1,286.80. First resistance is seen at lastweek’s high of $1,312.60 and then at $1,320.00. First support is seen at lastweek’s low of $1,293.10 and then at $1,286.80. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.5

Thesilver bears still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage.Silver bulls' next upside price breakout objective is closing prices abovesolid technical resistance at $17.00 an ounce. The next downside price breakoutobjective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the May low of$16.07. First resistance is seen at $16.74 and then at the May high of $16.865.Next support is seen at last week’s low of $16.31 and then at $16.19. Wyckoff'sMarket Rating: 4.5.

JulyN.Y. copper closed up 640 points at 319.90 cents today. Prices closed near thesession high and hit a six-week high today. The copper bulls have the overallnear-term technical advantage and gained more power today. Copper bulls' nextupside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technicalresistance at 325.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears isclosing prices below solid technical support at the May low of 301.00 cents.First resistance is seen at the April high of 321.80 cents and then at 325.00cents. First support is seen at 317.50 cents and then at 315.00 cents.Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Follow @jimwyckoffjwyckoff@kitco.comwww.kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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