03/12/2012 (Borneo Post) - The US January budget has created commotions as investors were uncertain if the fiscal cliff would cause economic damages.

Gold and crude prices plunged on Wednesday punctured by fear rumours in the markets but bargain hunting began to pick up trades while the month end closed.

However, WTI Crude traded at 88.00 regions on Friday due to slightly bullish sentiment towards month end closing.

WTI Crude prices closed at 88.88 on Friday after recovering from intra-week 85.37 low.

This week, we foresee there will be some selling pressure from 90.00 levels while the market is subject to observations on Middle East tension and Egypt unrest.

The downside support still lies at 85.50 areas where investors will be keen for bargain-hunting.

Traders should look for opportunity to enter from extreme ends if the trend has been forecast to be in sideways swing.

Gold prices declined on late Friday night to 1,714 regions after the trend fizzles out at 1,730 top.

We reckon the yellow metal will be subject to dollar strength and investors’ confidence in coming week to lead the market direction.

The initial support is identified at 1,705 areas which might drive down to 1,690 lower grounds if violated.

Topside resistance remains at 1,740 levels which should guard the upcoming trend well for the time being.

Crude Palm Oil Futures (FCPO) on Bursa Derivatives traded in weak sentiment like we forecast last week.

The market made intra-week high at 2,458 below the 2,500 resistances.

The February delivery month closed at 2,370 on Friday in range bound trading.

This week, we predict the trend will move inside the range from 2,300 to 2,450 levels and prone to slight bearish sentiment.

Speculating traders will prefer to pick short entry in early week by controlling the risk at 2,450 levels.

Disclaimer: This report is written for general information only. No liability by the writers, publisher or any third party involved in the distribution of this work. Dar Wong and Chong HC are the market strategists in APSRI on CPO markets. Wong has 22 years of trading and hedging experiences while HC traded for four years and now coaches institutional customers. They can be reached at www.traderpromaster.com.