#Gold Technical Analysis##Middle East Situation# 24K99 News On Thursday (October 17th), affected by the tense situation in the Middle East and the uncertainty of the USA election, spot gold soared nearly $20, hitting a historic high.

Despite the rise in the US dollar and US Treasury yields, the gold price still rose sharply. FXStreet analyst Christian Borjon Valencia pointed out that driven by the uncertainty of the USA election, the gold price surged.

Spot gold closed up $19.15 on Thursday, up 0.72% at $2692.74 per ounce. The gold price hit a high of $2696.77 per ounce on Thursday, setting a new record.

Valencia wrote that due to the uncertainty of the USA election, the gold price hit a historic high during Thursday's North American trading session, however, the price has yet to break through $2700 per ounce.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury notes rebounded from its low point, rising 8 basis points to 4.096%. The US dollar index rose by over 0.26% to 103.79, hitting a near two-month high.

Niteh Shah, strategist at WisdomTree, said: "Apart from concerns in the Middle East, the USA election is also imminent, presenting a closely contested election. This has generated a lot of uncertainty, and gold is often the investment choice during uncertain periods."

Israel Says Hamas Leader Sinwar is Dead

On October 17th local time, Israeli media quoted senior Israeli officials as saying that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed by the Israeli military.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli National Security Agency (Shin Bet) issued a joint statement stating that, according to preliminary reports, the IDF killed 3 Palestinian militants in a military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli National Security Agency are verifying if one of them is Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Israeli Foreign Minister Katz said on Thursday that Hamas leader Sinwar has been killed in an airstrike.

Katz stated, 'Today, the perpetrator responsible for the massacre and violence on October 7th was killed by Israeli Defense Forces soldiers.'

Sinwar has been Hamas leader in Gaza since 2017. After the conflict with Israel broke out on October 7th last year, he did not appear in public again. Israel regards Sinwar as one of the masterminds behind Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7th last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to continue the war after Hamas' new leader Sinwar was killed by the IDF.

Netanyahu stated that the elimination of Sinwar marks the 'beginning of the end for Hamas,' and Israel will continue the fight until all hostages held by Hamas are released by October 7, 2023.

On August 6th this year, Hamas announced that Sinwar has become the leader of the Hamas political bureau, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated in Iran on July 31st.

How to trade gold?

FXStreet analyst Christian Borjon Valencia pointed out that the upward trend of gold remains intact. Bulls may push the spot gold price towards the psychological level of $2700 per ounce in the short term, as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicates buying momentum is building up.

Valencia stated that the first resistance level for gold is the high of $2696 per ounce so far this year. Once broken, the price could potentially rise to $2700 per ounce, followed by $2750 per ounce and $2800 per ounce.

(Spot gold daily chart source: FXStreet)

Valencia added that conversely, if the price of gold falls below the high of $2670 per ounce on October 4th, there may be a pullback towards $2650 per ounce. If it weakens further, the next support level will be $2600 per ounce, followed by the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at $2561 per ounce.

In addition, the well-known financial website Economies.com pointed out on Thursday that the price of gold is clearly on the rise and closed above $2685.50 per ounce, suggesting that the price will rise in the coming trading periods, paving the way for gold to first rise to $2700.00 per ounce, and possibly even further to $2720.00 per ounce.

(Spot gold 4-hour chart Source: Economies.com)

Economies.com added that unless the gold price falls below $2685.50 per ounce and remains below that level, the call bias remains valid.