NEW DELHI: Gold futures prices in the domestic market continued to slide in the morning trade for another day on Monday as a stronger US dollar made bullion expensive for other currency holders, despite expectations of a large Covid-19 relief package in the United States.
US President-elect Joe Biden said on Friday that he wants 100 million Covid-19 vaccine shots during his first 100 days in office, a day after unveiling a $1.9 trillion stimulus package proposal to jump-start the economy.
Gold futures on MCX were down 0.15 per cent or Rs 73 at Rs 48,629 per 10 grams. Silver futures added 0.23 per cent or Rs 148 to Rs 64,912 per kg.
“COMEX gold trades modestly lower near $1,824/oz after hitting a session low of $1,800.8/oz. Gold is pressurized by recent gains in the US dollar index on the back of safe haven buying. However, supporting price is the mixed economic data from major economies, rising virus cases, Fed’s support for loose monetary policy and possibility of additional US stimulus,” said Ravindra Rao, VP- Head Commodity Research at Kotak Securities.
“ETF inflows late last week also indicated some pick-up in investor buying. Gold may remain under pressure with the US dollar attempting a pullback from multi year low, however price may hold near the $1,800/oz.”
In the spot market, gold prices gained Rs 286 to Rs 48,690 per 10 gram in the national capital on Friday following recovery in international price of the precious metal and rupee depreciation. Silver prices also jumped Rs 558 to Rs 65,157 per kilogram.
Trading strategy
“We expect gold prices to trade sideways to down for the short term with bearish moving averages crossover and weak RSI. Sell on rise should be the strategy for the short term with resistance above Rs 49,700 per 10 gram. Strategy: Sell MCX Gold February at Rs 49,200 with target at Rs 48,200 and stop loss above Rs 49,700,” said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.
Global markets
Gold prices dropped to their lowest in 1-1/2 months on Monday. Spot gold fell 0.3 per cent to $1,820.46 per ounce by 0048 GMT, having fallen to their lowest since Dec. 2, 2020 at $1,809.90 earlier in the session. US gold futures eased 0.7 per cent to $1,816.80.
Physical gold in top consumer China was sold at a small premium for the first time since early 2020 last week, as demand picked up ahead of the Chinese new year.
Silver fell 0.6 per cent to $24.57 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.4 per cent to $1,078.19, while palladium shed 0.2 per cent to $2,377.49.