The price of gold bottomed on 16th August last year when the price reached a low of $1160. Since then, the price has continued to move higher, making higher highs and higher lows. This week, the price continued the rally to reach a high of $1215. This was the highest level in eight months.

The recent rally on the metal is associated with a number of factors. First, the demand for physical gold is rising, especially in India where the wedding season is currently going on. India is one of the largest buyers of gold jewelry, especially for wedding purposes. Second, in recent weeks, there has been consolidation in the gold industry. Two weeks ago, US-based Newmont Mining announced that it would acquire Canada’s Goldcorp. Previously, Barrick Gold announced that it would acquire Randgold. Two years ago, South Africa’s Sibanye acquired Stillwater. Investors believe that the acquisitions may lead to more efficiency in the industry.

Third, investors are still concerned about global growth, especially on trade. This week, the leading Chinese trade negotiator will be in Washington to discuss trade issues. While traders are optimistic that the talks may yield to better results, they are still cautious because of the underlying issues. For example, China will resist measures to prevent their intellectual property theft from American companies.

Most importantly, traders are paying close attention to the Federal Reserve, which is expected to reduce the number of interest rate hikes this year. Indeed, the dot plot from the previous meeting showed that there may be two rate hikes this year. This is two hikes lower than those of the previous two years.

The chart below shows the performance of gold in the past year. The price has continued to remain below the 21-day and 42-day EMA while the RSI has moved to the overbought level. Contrary to this RSI number, there is a likelihood that the price may continue moving higher. This is confirmed by the Stochastics indicator shown below.