The Japanese disaster was reportedly the largest ever recorded in that region, with the resulting tsunami devastating the earthquake region. Most traders and markets do not like uncertainty, and the result has been selling pressure in many markets. Gold, however, has seen some buying support Friday on safe-haven moves by investors, amid the uncertainty in the market place.
There should be less uncertainty in the market place by the time U.S. markets close Friday afternoon.
The commodity Crude oil prices are trading sharply lower at Friday morning and fell below $100.00 a barrel on the Japan quake news and on reports that the tensions in Saudi Arabia has not produced major demonstrations by the public. This is a bearish factor for the commodity gold market. This week commodity traders of crude oil also focused more on the plentiful supplies of crude oil presently in the U.S. Traders will still closely watching the price of crude oil as a gauge of the tensions in the Middle East.
The U.S. dollar index is trading near steady Friday. Dollar index bears still have the overall technical advantage, which continues to be an underlying overall bullish factor for the precious metals markets. A bullish weekly high close in the dollar index Friday would provide the dollar bulls with some fresh upside near-term technical momentum, which in turn would be a bearish development for the precious metals. The London A.M. gold fixing was $1,409.75 versus the previous P.M. fixing of $1,413.25.
Technically, April gold futures of commodity on Thursday closed at low price and hit a fresh two-week low. While the commodity gold market bulls still have the overall technical advantage, a six-week-old price uptrend on the daily bar chart was at least temporarily negated Thursday. Bulls did fade a bit Thursday and do not want to see a bearish weekly low close on Friday. Bulls' next near-term upside technical objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at this week's all-time high of $1,445.70. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is closing prices below solid technical support at $1,400.00. First resistance is seen at the overnight high of $1,419.30 and then at $1,425.00. First support is seen at Thursday's low of $1,403.00 and then at $1,400.00.
The commodity contract silver futures for May last traded down 68.6 cents at $34.38 an ounce Friday. The market is seeing profit-taking pressure from recent gains. No serious chart damage has been inflicted in silver, but the bulls do not want to see a bearish weekly low close on Friday. The commodity silver bulls still have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a steep six-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart, but more selling pressure Friday would likely negate that near-term uptrend. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at $34.00. Bulls' next upside price objective is producing a close above solid technical resistance at this week's high of $36.745 an ounce. First resistance is seen at $35.00 and then at the overnight high of $35.48