Gold rate today: Yellow metal gains amid Omicron worries; silver above Rs 61,500

NEW DELHI: Gold prices kicked off the new week on a positive note amid growing Omicron worries although the rising US dollar capped the upside for the bullion. Market participants also weighed the prospect of a faster ending to pandemic-era asset purchases by the US Federal Reserve after data suggested the labour market was rapidly tightening.

Gold futures on MCX were up 0.15 per cent or Rs 71 at Rs 47,974 per 10 grams. Silver futures inched up 0.22 per cent or Rs 134 at Rs 61,650 per kg.

Ravi Singh, Vice President & Head of Research, ShareIndia said gold traders are closely watching any sign of mutations in the Omicron variant as the data is not sufficient to understand the severity and impact of this new variant.

“Gold prices will remain in upward trend this week and short covering may be seen at dips. However, the recent hawkish stance of the Fed is holding back the breakout in gold,” he added.

Physical gold demand has eased in India and other major Asian hubs recently. Also, the wedding season is nearing a halt.

In the spot market, the highest purity gold was sold at Rs 47,544 per 10 grams while silver was priced at Rs 60,843 per kg on Friday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

The spot price of gold has declined more than Rs 2,000 per 10 grams in the last two weeks, whereas silver has declined about Rs 6,050 per kg after November 15.

Trading strategy

“We expect gold prices to trade sideways to up for the day with COMEX Spot gold support at $1,770 and resistance at $1,800 per ounce. MCX Gold February support lies at Rs 47,600 and resistance at Rs 48,200 per 10 gram,” said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.

Vidit Garg, Director, MyGoldKart said that technically gold has corrected from the 9-period moving average in the last week while a weekly close above 1,768$ is a light for the bulls at the end of the tunnel.

Global markets

Spot gold was little changed at $1,783.91 per ounce by 0038 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.1 per cent to $1,785.00.

Spot silver rose 0.3 per cent to $22.57 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.8 per cent to $939.78, while palladium increased 0.7 per cent to $1,821.49.