Despite the recovery of the US dollar during the recent trading sessions, the XAU/USD gold price is trying to hold its ground this week. The price of gold jumped towards the resistance level of 1788 dollars an ounce and was subjected to limited selling towards the level of 1754 dollars an ounce. It settled around the level of 1765 dollars an ounce in the beginning of trading today, Thursday . The US dollar reversed its earlier losses to post daily gains against some of the other major currencies after the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (ISM) confounded market expectations with a July rally in contrast to the alternative measure compiled by S&P Global.

Yesterday’s ISM Services Index surprised the currency and bond markets when it rose from 55.3 to 56.7 last month after rising due to sharp increases in new orders and general business activity within the largest and most important sector of the US economy. Supplier deliveries also accelerated while the price sub-component of the gauge fell 7.8% in its third consecutive monthly decline, also its largest decline since 2017, indicating that inflation pressures may be moderating.

About 13 out of 16 subsectors in the overall service industry reported a slight increase in business activity for the month of July, leading to an increase in the overall ISM services PMI in contrast to the S&P Global survey, which previously indicated that the sector contracted sharply last month.