• Gold price remains sidelined near nine-month high after a five-week uptrend.
• Mixed signals from Federal Reserve, mostly downbeat United States data improved sentiment and propelled Gold prices of late.
• Lunar New Year holidays in China, Fed’s ‘Blackout period’ may challenge XAU/USD traders.
• Purchasing Managers Indexes, Gross Domestic Product will be crucial for fresh impulse.

Gold price (XAU/USD) prints mild losses around $1,925 as bulls take a breather after a five-week uptrend, especially amid a lack of traders from China and the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) silence period. Even so, the bright metal stays near the highest levels since April 2022 as XAU/USD bulls await the first readings of activity data for January and the advanced estimates of the United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter (Q4) 2022.

That said, the Gold buyers cheered upbeat sentiment and the US Dollar’s weakness, mainly due to China-inspired market optimism, softer data from the United States and mixed comments from the Federal Reserve (Fed) officials.

Gold price benefits from US Dollar weakness

US Dollar Index (DXY) holds lower ground at the lowest levels since May 31, 2022, tested the last week, even as the latest comments from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials ahead of a two-week ‘blackout period’ before the Fed meeting favored further rate hikes. The reason could be linked to the market’s belief that the Fed is near to the policy pivot even if it is all set to announce a 0.25% interest rate increase in the February meeting.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller was the last from the US central bank speakers to cross the wires before the stipulated mum-period ahead of the February Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The policymaker said, “He favors a 25 basis point rate hike at the upcoming meeting and continued policy tightening beyond that.” Talking about the data, US Retail Sales and regional activity numbers were downbeat enough to hint at a “soft landing” of the world’s largest economy, which in turn weighed on the US Dollar and underpinned the Gold price.