Oil grinds higher
Oil prices ground higher overnight as black gold continued to benefit from recovery sentiment in the US/Europe/China axis. Brent crude rose 1.05% to USD69.45 a barrel, advancing to USD69.60 a barrel in Asia. WTI rose 1.25% to USD66.30 a barrel, adding another 15 cents toUSD66.45 a barrel in Asia.
Brent crude is now within shouting distance of significant resistance at USD70.00 a barrel. A rise through USD70.00 should trigger more systematic buying and see it advance to USD71.50 a barrel quite quickly. Support lies at USD68.25 and USD67.75 a barrel.
WTI remains comfortably within its bullish channel and has resistance just above at USD66.60 a barrel. That will set up a larger rally, potentially reaching near the channel’s top at USD68.00 a barrel. Support is at USD65.00 and then the bottom of the channel at USD64.00 a barrel.
Gold’s outperformance continues
Gold had another impressive session overnight, rising 1.30% to USD1867.00 an ounce. In Asia, it has advanced slightly, rising to USD1868.00 an ounce. The trigger for the renewed gold buying appears to be its rise through its 200-DMA at USD1848.00 yesterday. That seems to have triggered systemic and fast-money buying.
However, the pace of the gold rally appears to be outpacing fundamentals right now, and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has entered overbought territory. That is a warning sign that gold is vulnerable to a short-term pullback, even if its overall fundamentals have not changed.
Gold has resistance just above at USD1875.00 an ounce, followed by USD1920.00 an ounce, although I do not doubt that more fast money will enter the fray if USD1900.00 capitulates. Gold’s nearest support is yesterday’s breakout region at USD1845.00 an ounce, where the 200-DMA also loiters this morning. That is followed by USD1820.00 an ounce.
Although gold looks set for higher honours, a safer strategy might be to buy on dips rather than chasing it higher at these overbought levels in the short term.
