Gold rate today: Yellow metal tops Rs 53,000, silver edges lower

NEW DELHI: Gold prices were trading lower on Friday but were set for second weekly gain as talks between Russia and Ukraine made little apparent progress. The safe-haven metal pulled back about 3 per cent in the previous session, its worst daily decline since January 2021 – snapping a rally that took it near the August 2020 all-time highs.

Gold futures on MCX were trading lower by 0.45 per cent or Rs 239 at Rs 53,000 per 10 gram. Silver futures were trading down by 0.41 per cent or Rs 291 at Rs 70,180 per kg.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increases the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. The US Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its next policy statement on March 16.

Patnaik, Head – Commodities, Axis Securities, said the reconciliatory tone adopted by President Zielinski, who showed willingness to explore diplomatic compromise with the Russians to stop the current onslaught, was short lived.

In the spot market, highest purity gold was sold at Rs 52,880 per 10 gram while silver was priced at Rs 69,815 per kg on Tuesday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

Spot prices of gold have jumped more than 1,100 per 10 grams in the last couple of sessions month , whereas Silver has tumbled almost similar per kg in the last two trading sessions.

Ravi Singh, Vice President and Head of Research, ShareIndia, said, “Gold prices are expected to outperform even after the current war tension settles as due to the after-effects of war.”

Trading strategy
“We expect gold prices to trade sideways to up for the day with COMEX Spot gold support at $1,970 and resistance at $2,015 per ounce. MCX Gold April support lies at Rs 52,400 and resistance at Rs 53,700 per 10 gram,” said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.

Global markets
Spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at $1,992.94 per ounce, as of 0203 GMT. US gold futures were flat at $2,000.10. Bullion gained about 1.2 per cent so far this week.

Spot silver shed 0.7 per cent to $25.70 per ounce, while platinum fell 0.6 per cent to $1,062.01 and was set for its worst weekly decline since November 2021. Palladium was down 0.5 per cent at $2,914.78 per ounce.