The last 3 days have been 'nosiy' in precious metals markets with gold swinging from the best day in 5 months to the worst day in 4 months and now to another high volume surge, breaking the barbarous relic back its 100-day moving-average...
It sems the 100DMA is a key level with heavy volume being used to push gold futures around it.
UBS asks "Is gold establishing a foundation for a rebound?"
Gold longs rebuild while shorts continue to hesitate
Gold is holding reasonably well near the highs of the range established in the past couple of months. A few macro factors have been supportive of late: the pullback in the dollar, a pause in the rise in US nominal and real rates particularly on the long end, consolidation in equities, and political and fiscal uncertainty in the US. Latest political headlines out of Europe are probably helping at the margins, although currency moves could complicate the impact. Stepping back from near-term developments, it's worth noting that the gold market's correction and subsequent consolidation has generally been orderly. The relatively measured unwinding of positions on Comex from the year's highs reached in September is a reflection of this. Latest CFTC data shows that gold net long positions have been tentatively rebuilding over the past couple of weeks; at 22.33moz, market net length looks relatively lean around 60% of the all-time high, albeit still higher than the 12-month average around 17 moz. The recent build in net positioning was mainly due to gains in gross longs. Although gold shorts increased for the first time in four weeks as of November 14, volumes were very modest.
Gold resilience helps position the market for a rebound up ahead
A combination of resilient longs and hesitant shorts has helped gold form a decent base and enabled prices to climb above some support levels, improving the overall technical picture. As we have previously noted, we think gold's resilience is in large part due to lingering uncertainty; although macro risks in general are perceived to be lower, there is an acknowledgment that known unknowns and unknown unknowns continue to lurk. Additionally, some seasonal demand is likely also keep gold supported. Bits and pieces of interest are evident out of China, although there seems to be no urgency to stock up for the Lunar New Year holidays which will occur later in February this time around. Market participants have also indicated a preference to hold off until after the FOMC December meeting is out of the way. We think gold's performance of late and the prospect for further seasonal demand to kick in – albeit with unexceptional volumes – should put gold in a reasonably healthy position for a rebound above $1300 towards the year-end through to early 2018.