More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Sep 18, 2024

By Sandeep Sinha

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of gold rose on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and COMEX ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee's monetary policy meeting outcome later today. The positive sentiment for yellow metal was further lifted by a weaker dollar, which makes commodities priced in the greenback cheaper for holders of other currencies.

At 1845 IST, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was down 0.2% at 100.79.

"Gold is seen consolidating in a range but is trading close to its all-time high hit a couple of sessions back, as focus remains on the US Fed's meeting outcome later in the day. Although a rate cut is confirmed, but market remains divided between the quantum i.e. 25 basis points or 50 basis points cut," Pranav Mer, vice-president research commodity and currency at BlinkX and JM Financial said in a note.

At 1845 IST, the most active October gold contract on MCX was up 0.3% at 73,279 rupees per 10 gm. The most active December contract on COMEX was 0.5% higher at $2,604.40 per oz. The highest call open interest for gold was at the 74,000-75,000-rupee strike price, suggesting a bullish view, while the highest put open interest was at the 72,000-71,000-rupee strike for the Sep 24 gold contract.

If the Fed cuts interest rates only by 25 bps, this is likely to cause disappointment in the market and thus weigh on gold price, Commerzbank said in a note. On Tuesday, gold holdings with SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, remained steady at 872.23 tn. The fund has a market value of $72.19 bln.

SILVER prices fell, taking negative cues from COMEX, and concerns about demand. At 1910 IST, the most active December contract of silver on MCX was down 0.4% at 88,777 rupees per kg. The same-month contract on COMEX was 0.4% lower at $30.85 per oz.

The MCX Bulldex, an index that tracks the real-time performance of gold and silver futures on the MCX, was up 45 points at 18372 points. As of 1855 IST, the October and December gold contracts recorded turnovers of 21.30 bln rupees and 5.59 bln rupees, respectively, on MCX. The December and March contracts of silver saw turnovers of 15.60 bln rupees and 879.35 mln rupees, respectively.

The spot gold-silver ratio, also known as the Mint ratio, rose to 84.06, indicating that gold outperformed silver. The ratio measures the ounces of silver required to buy an ounce of gold. The ratio was 83.44 on Tuesday.

Outlook for the rest of the session:

--MCX gold seen at 72,950–73,650 rupees per 10 gm

--COMEX gold seen at $2,584.00–$2,625.50 an oz

--MCX silver seen at 87,700-90,400 rupees per kg

--COMEX silver seen at $30.80-$31.31 an oz

End

US$1 = 83.75 rupees

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Aditya Sakorkar

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.