Gold rate: Yellow metal marginally lower, silver flat

NEW DELHI: Gold edged lower on Friday as investors fancied riskier assets and a stronger dollar made the bullion more expensive. However, the decline in precious metals was limited on the MCX.

Gold futures on MCX were down 0.15 per cent or Rs 71 at Rs 47,563 per 10 grams. Silver futures were flat, just 0.03 per cent or Rs 17 lower at 67,574 per kg.

Ravindra Rao,CMT, EPAT, VP- Head Commodity Research at Kotak Securities, said that gold is choppy as support from rising virus cases, disappointing US economic data and ECB’s dovish stance is countered by rise in bond yields and stability in equity markets.

"ETF investors also remained on sidelines awaiting fresh cues. Gold continues to hold near $1800/oz and buying interest may emerge at lower levels amid persisting challenges to the global economy and loose monetary policy stance of some central banks," he added.

In the spot market, highest purity gold was sold at Rs 47,670 while silver was priced at Rs 66,766 on Thursday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

Physical gold has declined at Rs 1,000 in the last couple of weeks, whereas silver has shed more than Rs 2,200 during the period.

The dollar index held close to multi-month highs, which offset support from lower U.S. bond yields and weak economic data. Focus now shifts to next week's U.S. Federal Reserve meeting for more clues on monetary policy going forward.

Trading strategy
"We expect gold prices to trade sideways to down for the day with COMEX Spot gold support at $1790 and resistance at $1810 per ounce. MCX Gold August support lies at Rs. 47200 and resistance at Rs. 47900 per 10 gram" said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.

Global markets
Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,803.33 per ounce, as of 0314 GMT. Bullion is down 0.4% this week. U.S. gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,803.90.

Silver slipped 0.5% to $25.34 per ounce and was set for its third weekly fall. Palladium rose 0.3% to $2,725.19, and platinum was flat at $1,092.64.