Gold price is meandering in a narrow range below $1800 so far this Friday, awaiting the US economic releases for the next big move. As FXStreet’s Dhwani Mehta notes, XAU/USD still awaits a weekly closing above the critical 200-Daily Moving Average (DMA) at $1796 to see further upside.

See – Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD to hit $1850 before tanking through next year and beyond – ANZ

The path of least resistance appears to the upside for XAU/USD

“Attention now turns towards the critical US consumer-centric data. The US Retail Sales are expected to drop 0.2% MoM in September while the core figure is seen lower at 0.5%. Below-forecast American data is likely to add to the corrective pullback in the USD, as the Treasury yields could resume the downside.”

“The bulls await a daily closing above the 200-Daily Moving Average (DMA) at $1796 to unleash further upside. At that level, the bearish 100-DMA hurdle coincides. The next relevant target is seen near $1807-$1809, mid-September highs. The September highs of $1834 will be in sight if gold bulls gain conviction.”

“Any pullback in the price would call for a test of the horizontal 50-DMA support at $1777, below which the previous important resistance-turned-support of the mildly bullish 21-DMA at $1761 will get tested.