Gold renews weekly top above $1660, as risk-off remains in vogue

• Gold jumps over 1% amid growing coronavirus risks.
• US 10-year Treasury yields slide back below 1% amid risk-off.
• Eyes on US NFP as markets expect another Fed rate cut this month.

Gold (XAU/USD) prices are enjoying a risk-off market profile in Thursday’s American trading, now printing a new weekly high at $1663.14, up 1.20% on the day.

Investors remain highly risk-averse and resort to protecting their capital in the traditional safe-haven gold, in the face of growing coronavirus risks and its negative economic fallout globally.

The risk-off mood intensified mainly after California Governor declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, which has heavily weighed down on the US Treasury yields and eventually on the US dollar across the board.

The US 10-year Treasury yields dive over 5% to record a new record low at 0.926 in the last hour, as the US dollar index hit a new two-month low of 96.90. The main US indices are down over 2%, at the momentum.

The precious metal is now on its way to test the February, 25 high of $ 1663.94, as the ultimate haven will remain underpinned by the risk-off flows amid looming virus risks.

Also, with markets believe the latest Fed rate cut being ineffective, another rate cut at its March 18^th meeting cannot be ruled. The dovish expectations from the Fed as well as ECB will continue to offer support to the non-yielding gold support.

Next of relevance for the metal remains the key US non-farm payrolls data due on Friday at 1330 GMT while the disease-driven broader market sentiment will continue to remain the main market motor.

Gold technical levels to watch