Despite some early morning selling pressure, gold is ending the week with solid gains; June Comex gold futures settled Friday’s session at $1,243.80 an ounce, up almost 2% on the week.

The rise in gold also helped other precious metals as May Comex silver futures also saw positive gains, ending a two-week losing streak. May silver settled the week up at 15.384 ounces, up more than 2.3% on the week.

Looking ahead, market sentiment for gold has dramatically improved as prices have managed to hold above key support levels, with expectations that prices could test the top of their recent range at $1,250 an ounce next week.

Kitco News’ latest Wall Street vs. Main Street Gold Survey showed renewed positive sentiment as 80% of retail investors and 60% of market professionals expect to see higher prices next week. One key bullish indictor for some analysts is the fact that price managed to push above the 20-day and 50-day moving averages on Thursday.

Phillip Streible, senior market strategist at RJOFutures, said that gold is rebuilding its technical momentum because there are still a lot of unknown factors looming in the background.

“People are getting more worried about Greece again and then there is the Brexit vote that is quickly approaching and we still don’t know where interest rates are going,” he said.

However, Streible added that he is less concerned about interest rates as inflation expectations are picking up, which is ultimately good for gold and will probably mean the central bank will be behind the inflation curve, even if interest rates rise twice later in the year.

Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said that gold market is getting comfortable with the Federal Reserve’s ambiguity on interest rates hikes. He added that expectations continue to get pushed further and further out, allowing the yellow metal to hold its gains.

Melek also agreed that he expects to see gold benefit from further safe-haven buying ahead of the Brexit referendum.

“I would expect gold prices to test its higher trading range in the near-term,” he said. “More uncertainty and market volatility will lead to higher prices.”

However, there is one factor that could limit gold’s renewed momentum: first quarter earnings season, which kicks off next week.

Sean Lusk, director of commercial hedging with Walsh Trading, said that he is bullish on gold next week but he will also be paying attention to equity markets.

“Earnings season could be positive for equity markets and that could be negative for gold,” he said.

While Lusk is expecting gold to trade at the top of its range in the near-term, he added that the market needs new headlines to push above the March highs.

With gold stuck in a channel, analysts expect that the market to remain sensitive to U.S. economic data, which includes the release of March U.S. advance retail sales and the consumer price index. Gold investors, in particular, will be interested to see if inflation continues to pick up.

For silver investors, the key report next week will be March industrial production. Silver has lagged behind gold because of its industrial component.

“Industrial production has increased for the last three months and I think if we see another increase in March that will be a major confidence boost for silver,” said Streible. “A positive report would see silver close the gap in the gold-silver ratio.”

Courtesy: Kitco News