Gold rises above $1,350 barrier per ounce, shrugs off dollar's rebound from 3-month low

Gold rallied during the Asian session, to reach its highest since June 7, when it tested its highest since April 19, 2018, shrugging off the dollar index rebound for the fourth session in six sessions from its lowest since 26 From March, according to the inverse relationship between them on the threshold of developments and economic data expected on Friday by the Chinese economy, the world's largest consumer of metals in addition to a release of key data from its US counterpart.

As of 03:35 GMT, gold futures (15th August delivery) rose 0.32% to currently trade at $1,350.80 per ounce from the opening of $1,346.50 per ounce, while the dollar index rose 0.05% to 97.06 compared to the opening at 97.01. .

The markets are now looking for China's National Bureau of Statistics to release its reading for the annual retail sales index, which may reflect a rapid growth to 8.0% from 7.2% in April, coinciding with the Industrial Production Index annual reading, which could show a 5.4% growth with little change from what it was in April, and also with the reading of unemployment rates during last month.

On the other hand, investors are currently looking for the US economy to reveal its reading for retail sales, which account for about half of consumer spending and for more than two thirds of the US gross domestic product, which may reflect a rise of 0.7% compared to a 0.2% decline in April, while the core reading of the same index may show growth accelerating to 0.5% versus 0.1% in April.

This comes before we see the release of manufacturing sector data for May with the release of the index of industrial production, which may show a rise of 0.2% compared to a decline of 0.5% in April, while the reading of the Capacity Utilization Rate index which may show an accelerated growth to 78.0% from 77.9% in April.

Leading to the release of the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index, which may reflect a widening of 98.1 versus 100 in May in addition to the inflation expectations for one year ahead and five years to come, which might go up to 0.4% against stability at zero levels in March.

On the other hand, we followed yesterday news about a sabotage attack at two oil tankers in the Sea of ​​Oman, followed by the United States accusation to Iran of being behind the incident and Washington promised to retaliate in the case of proof against Tehran. The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a transparent investigation of those incidents by the Security Council, which reflects another escalation in tensions between the United States and Iran, which had previously threatened to stop waterway shipping in the Gulf because of US economic obstacles.

Otherwise, we have followed on Wednesday the remarks of US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, during which he noted that both President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, may decide to reopen trade talks at the G20 summit which is scheduled for June 28-29 in Japan, but he added that it will not be the place of the trade agreement signing between countries, adding that President Trump wants structural reforms in the trade agreement with China.

US Trade Secretary Ross also said that the Federal Reserve should have reconsidered the recent increase in interest on federal funds as premature, this comes a week before the FOMC meeting in Washington, which is due to be unveil the Commission's expectations for growth rates, inflation and unemployment as well as future interest rates for the next three years.