Gold rate today: Yellow metal nursing wounds; silver moves higher

NEW DELHI: Gold prices held steady on Friday, after a sharp fall in the previous session. A firmer dollar dented the metal’s appeal as investors await a key US Federal Reserve meeting for clues on the central bank’s taper plan.

Gold futures on MCX were marginally down 0.06 per cent, or Rs 26, at Rs 46,050 per 10 gram. On the other hand, silver futures gained 0.25 per cent, or Rs 155, at Rs 61,232 per kg.

The dollar held near three-week highs against a basket of major currencies after a raft of strong US economic data rekindled expectations of earlier policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve.

Ravindra Rao, CMT, EPAT, VP – Head of Commodity Research at Kotak Securities, said upbeat US economic data which strengthened the case for Fed’s monetary tightening weighed on gold. “However, supporting price is rising inflation concerns, persisting virus risks, concerns about the health of the Chinese economy and increased geopolitical tensions. ETF inflows also showed some buying interest at lower levels,” he added.

In the spot market, highest purity gold was sold at Rs 46,657 per 10 gram while silver was priced at Rs 62,258 per kg on Wednesday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

The spot price of the yellow metal has decline over Rs 550 in the last one week, whereas silver has remained almost unchanged in the last couple of weeks, thanks to tepid buying action.

Sandeep Matta, Founder, TRADEIT Investment Advisor said, “The precious metal had a meltdown in the aftermath of better-than-expected US retail sales data which is one of the major parts of measuring US economic strength.”

Trading strategy
“We expect gold prices to trade sideways to down for the day after initial rebound with COMEX Spot gold support at $1,750 and resistance at $1,775 per ounce. MCX Gold October support lies at Rs 45,800 and resistance at Rs 46,500 per 10 gram,” said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.

Global markets
Spot gold was flat at $1,754.86 per ounce, as of 0037 GMT on Friday. US gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,755.00.

Silver was flat at $22.93 per ounce, after hitting its lowest in more than a month on Thursday. Platinum rose 0.6% to $938.88, while palladium dipped 0.1% to $2,032.31.