Gold wraps itself round US$1,800 as traders await Jackson Hole

GOLD prices spent most of the week around the US$1,800 psychological level, wedged between two major technical moving averages. With the symposium of central bankers, policymakers and economists looming at Jackson Hole, investors would rather await the outcomes from the annual event and let prices drift within from the twilight zone between the narrow 50-day and 200-day EMAs.

Gold started the week on a buoyant note, rushing to a two-week high to cross over the 50-day EMA and US$1,800 handle on Monday as a retreat in the dollar pushed investors to bullion. Rising Delta variant coronavirus cases had driven expectations that the US Federal Reserve might delay tapering of assets purchases. Prior to the breakout of prices, gold prices have gone back and forth during the course of the previous week below the 50-day EMA in an extremely tight range.

There have been other key themes that investors paid attention to this week. US President Joe Biden rejected pleas from allies in the Group of Seven, saying he was sticking with his Aug 31 deadline to fully exit Afghanistan, amid an increasingly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and a suicide bomb attack in Kabul. Meanwhile, in a world overwhelmed by Covid's Delta variant, infections continue to rise.