Gold rate today: Yellow metal trades flat, silver loses sheen

NEW DELHI: Gold prices were trading lower on Thursday in Asian markets, thanks to the stronger dollar, which diminished bullion's appeal.
However, a surge in US Treasury yields following hawkish meeting minutes released by the Federal Reserve offset the precious metal's safe-haven demand amid rising cases of the Omicron variant.

Gold Futures on MCX declined 0.42 per cent or Rs 204 at Rs 47,817 per 10 grams. Silver tanked 1.27 per cent or Rs 793 at Rs 61,445 per kg.
Investors view gold as a hedge against higher inflation, but the metal is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Gold prices traded steady on Thursday as the US ADP private payroll data reported growth in private payrolls, which has capped the upside in gold prices in the previous trading.

Prices pared some of the gains pressured by a firm dollar and strong US bond yields with increased expectations of a rate hike. The heightened risk of the Omicron virus spreading has kept the risk premium high in gold prices.

"The gold prices are trading in a tight range after the release of the December Federal Reserve meeting minutes signalled a possibility of earlier and faster rate hikes due to increasing inflation," said Ravi Singh, Vice President & Head of Research, ShareIndia.

Gold discounts in India widened to multi-month highs as consumers in major Asian countries held back purchases into the year-end holidays amid new virus-related restrictions, which may delay wedding purchases.

In the spot market, the highest purity gold was sold at Rs 48,150 per 10 grams, while Silver was priced at Rs 61,896 per kg on Wednesday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

The spot prices of gold were back above Rs 48,000 market showing some strength, whereas its peer Silver was unable to trade above Rs 62,000 per kg, highlighting underperformance of the white metal.

Vidit Garg, Director, MyGoldKart, said that gold gave up full day gains after hawkish tone was reflected from Fed and US bond yields were up after a long time with the Dollar covering its losses.

Trading strategy
"We expect gold prices to trade sideways to up for the day with COMEX Spot gold support at $1,790 and resistance at $1,830 per ounce. MCX Gold February support lies at Rs 47,800 and resistance at Rs 48,400 per 10 gram," said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.

Global markets
Spot Gold was little changed at $1,810.59 per ounce by 0142 GMT. US Gold Futures fell 0.8 per cent to $1,810.00.
Spot Silver shed 0.1 per cent to $22.75 an ounce, platinum fell 0.2 per cent to $980.53, and palladium remained unchanged at $1,863.69.