Gold rate today: Yellow hovers near Rs 52,000; silver above Rs 61,500

NEW DELHI: Gold prices edged mildly lower on Friday on the back of the strong US dollar. Traders awaited a US jobs report that could help investors gauge the Federal Reserve’s rate-hike path.

Investors are now focused on the US nonfarm payrolls report due later in the day, with economists forecasting 250,000 jobs to have been added last month, compared with 315,000 in August.

Gold futures on

were trading mildly down by 0.11 per cent or Rs 55 at Rs 51,917 per 10 grams. However, silver futures were higher by 0.26 per cent or Rs 161 at Rs 61,507 per kg.

The dollar index was firm and benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields were steady after rising overnight. Despite this, the yellow metal was headed for its biggest weekly gain since March.

Gold prices edged higher yesterday amid weaker-than-expected macroeconomic data from the US, said ICICIDirect Research.

“Gold prices are expected to trade with a positive bias for the day amid expectations of weak macroeconomic data from the US,” it added.

In the spot market, the highest purity gold was sold at Rs 51,838 per 10 grams while silver was priced at Rs 60,670 per kg on Thursday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

The spot prices of gold have gained about Rs 2,000 per 10 grams in the last two weeks, whereas silver has jumped more than Rs 3,300 per kg in the same period under review.

Gold and silver prices were marginally up on Thursday due to some safe-haven demand amid elevated risk aversion, said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities.

“A strong rebound in the US dollar index from early week lows has been limiting the upside in the precious metal markets,” he added. “We expect gold and silver to remain volatile in today’s session ahead of the US job reports.”

Trading Strategy
Gold has support at $1702-1688, while resistance is at $1728-1745. Silver has support at $20.20-19.82, while resistance is at $20.75-20.95, Kalantri said.

In Rupee terms, gold has support at Rs 51,720-51,540, while resistance is at Rs 52,210-52,350. Silver has support at Rs 60,650-59,940, while resistance is at Rs 61,880–62,410.

Global markets
Spot gold was little changed at $1,709.69 per ounce, as of 0123 GMT. US gold futures were flat at $1,719.90. Prices have risen about 3 per cent so far in the week, helped by a retreat in the dollar and Treasury yields from multi-year peaks.

Spot silver fell 0.4 per cent to $20.56 per ounce, platinum dipped 0.4 per cent to $918.38 and palladium dropped 0.6 per cent to $2,247.62.

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