Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD justifies Fridays Doji, risk-aversion to drop below $1,950

Gold prices consolidate recent gains amid sour sentiment, firmer USD.

Yields underpin USD as BOJ acts, Fedspeak suggests faster rate hikes.

Anxiety over Ukraine-Russia talks, Chinas covid woes add strength to the risk-off mood.

Gold Weekly Forecast: Can XAU/USD push higher as west blocks Russia's gold transactions？

In doing so, the yellow metal justifies Fridays Doji candlestick, as well as firmer US dollar, but stays well inside a short-term bullish channel amid a light calendar.

Its worth noting that the bond rout recently propelled the US dollar and weighed on the gold prices. That said, the yields for the benchmark 10-year bonds in the US and Japan recently reached the highest levels since 2019 and 2016 respectively. Underpinning the bond coupons are expectations that the global central bankers, led by the Fed, will portray aggressive monetary policy tightening to battle the reflation woes.

Also favoring the US dollar is the risk-off mood amid tensions between the West and Russia, as well as indecision over the Moscow-Kyiw talks. The comments from US President Joe Biden suggesting the indirect threat to the Russian President Vladimir Putin triggered risk-off mood during the early Asian, even as the White House and Germany tried to placate the fears.

On the same line was anxiety ahead of this weeks peace talks in Turkey as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed for the progress of the Ukraine-Russia peace talks by saying, “We're ready to discuss neutrality and non-nuclear status if security guarantees are provided.” However, his statements like, “Ukraine to insist on sovereignty and territorial integrity with talks with Russia,” challenges the odds of success.

Furthermore, hawkish Fedspeak and record-high US inflation expectations also propel the US dollar buying. New York Fed President and an FOMC member John Williams said on Friday that the speed of interest rate hikes this year should be data-driven. However, multiple Fed policymakers before him have already signaled a faster rate hike trajectory amid inflation fears. That said, the US inflation expectations per the 10-year breakeven inflation rate per the St. Louis Federal Reserve (FRED) data refresh record top and also weigh on the markets mood.

Looking forward, a light calendar during the initial weekdays can challenge the momentum traders but risk catalysts and NFP are likely to keep the markets volatile.

Technical analysis

Although Fridays Doji candlestick on the daily chart suggests further declines of gold, an eight-day-old rising trend channel restricts the short-term downside of the metal.

Gold: Daily chart