Gold futures hit an all-time high of Rs 85,279 on the MCX on Friday tracking global yellow metal prices. Around 9:15 pm today, the April Gold contracts were trading at Rs 85,094 per 10 gram, gaining by Rs 650 or 0.77%. Its gains this year have been to the tune of Rs 8,500 or 11%.
Bullion has been on a roll this year and has beaten Street’s expectation which had estimated a less sparkling rally in 2025, estimating this year’s target at Rs 85,000-87,000.
Gold was trading around at around $2,906.10 on the Comex around this time, gaining by $29.40 or 1.02%.
The rally in gold comes amid the US job data which showed the world’s largest economy generated fewer jobs than expected in January, but more than initially thought in December, leaving the outlook for rates more or less unchanged.
According to a Reuters report, the Labor Department said the number of workers on nonfarm payrolls rose by 143,000 in January, below expectations for a rise of 170,000 and below December’s upwardly revised 307,000.
The March silver futures too moved in tandem. They were trading at Rs 96,340 per kg, up by Rs 752 or 0.79%. Its intraday high stood at Rs 96,632.On the contrary, negative sentiments brought down the US markets. All three frontline indices on the Wall Street were trading in the red. While Dow 30 was down by 126 points or 0.28% around this time, S&P 500 fell by 0.26% and Nasdaq Composite plunged by 0.53%.ETMarkets had earlier reported analysts pegging the gold price target at Rs 85,000-Rs 87,000 per 10 gram for this year.
With the continued geopolitical, political and macro uncertainty, gold and silver are expected to retain their appeal as a hedge against inflation, Renisha Chainani, Head- Research, Augmont had said, as she was confident about the long term potential of gold expecting the bullion metal to hit target of Rs 85,000 over H125. The international yellow metal prices are expected to hit the $3,000 mark, she had said.
Meanwhile, Anuj Gupta, Head Commodity & Currency at HDFC Securities had estimated gold prices to test Rs 87,000 mark till Diwali while he rejected speculations of Rs 1 lakh mark getting achieved by 2025 end.