Gold Market Showed Broad Strength As 2018 Kicked Off - Insch Kintore
(Kitco News)- While many analystshave been focused on gold’s rally against the U.S. dollar, one investment firmnoted that the yellow metal started the year with broad-based strength againstthe seven most liquid global currencies.
In a reportThursday, Europe-based investment firm Insch Kintore described gold’s firsttrading month of the year as “interesting and somewhat frustrating.”
The firm’s uniqueinvestment strategy uses algorithms that are used to identify tradable trendsin spot gold against the U.S. dollar, euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Britishpound, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar.
In its report, thefirm said that at the start of the year, it held maximum long gold positions against all currencies, except the Japanese yen. The firm was flatgold against the yen for the entire month.
“For a briefperiod, the strategy was within a whisker of an all-time high,” the firm saidregarding its positioning at the start of the year.
However, bymid-month, the gold market started to get a “little messy,” as the firm saidthat it started to go short against some currencies and was net neutral gold.With February kicking off, the firm said that gold's bullish trend appears tobe reversing; Insch has established maximum short positions against allcurrencies but the U.S. dollar and yen.
Insch was bullishon gold against the U.S. dollar the entire month.
According to manycommodity analysts, the gold market should continue to outperform the U.S.dollar in the near term. The U.S. dollar has struggled to gain momentum evenafter what some analysts have described as a hawkish monetary policy statementthe Federal Reserve released Wednesday.
While gold pricesare down from last month’s 1.5-year high, prices are holding above key criticalsupport levels as the U.S. dollar index continues to trade around its lowestlevels in three years.
Currency charts onKitco.com show that gold has seen its best gains against the U.S. dollar. Insecond place, gold has gained 0.45% against the Canadian dollar in the firstmonth of the year.
Spot gold prices,on Kitco.com, said shows gold trading at $1,342.40 an ounce, down 0.19% on theday.
By Neils ChristensenFor Kitco News
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nchristensen@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.