Gold price falls through key support level

Falling short

The gold price fell again on Thursday breaking through a key technical support level to bring losses over just the past two weeks to more than 6%.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery last traded near its lows for the day of $1,294.00 an ounce, down $9.50 from yesterday’s close after.

Early on the gold price dipped as low as $1,291.90, but volumes remained light ahead of April gold options close-out.

On a technical basis gold broke through a key support level – the 200-day moving average – sitting at $1,296.70. Now that this level has been breached the yellow metal should expect next support at $1,280.

Gold is down from a high above $1,380 reached on Monday last week which was best level since June, but remains almost a $100 an ounce for the better this year.

Large investors on the futures and options market appears to have used this week to scale back long positions (bets that the price will go up), which were built up to the most bullish levels in more than a year of a net 13.8 million ounces.