Gold Technical Analysis: Under pressure beyond short-term key support

• Gold stays on the back foot after declining from the multi-year top.
• 50-bar SMA, a three-week-old rising trend line restrict short-term declines.
• Buyers could wait until the upside break of $1,580.

Gold prices remain under pressure for the second consecutive day while taking rounds to $1,558 during the Asian session on Thursday. The Bullion dropped from the highest since early 2013 on Wednesday.

Considering the bearish signal from 12-bar MACD, prices are likely to remain soft. In doing so, a confluence of 50-bar SMA and an upward sloping trend line since December 20 around $1,542.80/1,543.30 can be the sellers’ first target.

Should prices keep declining below $1,542.80, December 31 high near $1,525 and 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of December-January upside, at $1,516.80, could gain the Bear’s attention.

Meanwhile, buyers will look for entry beyond Monday’s top surrounding $1,580 to aim for $1,600.

Further, the yellow metal’s rise past-$1,600 could challenge the recent high around $1,612 ahead of rising towards March 2013 top near $1,620.

Gold four-hour chart

Trend: Pullback expected