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Informist, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024

By Sandeep Sinha

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of gold extended gains for the second straight day on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the COMEX after Ukraine launched strikes deep inside Russia that boosted gold's safe-haven demand. Inflows in gold exchange-traded funds added to the positive sentiment for the precious metal.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted a second strike on an ammunition depot in Russia's Bryansk region, causing at least 12 secondary explosions and detonations, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, RBC Ukraine reported.

On Monday, gold holdings with SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose for the second successive day by 1.72 tonnes to 871.65 tonnes. The fund has a market value of $73.04 billion. On the National Stock Exchange, the total value of gold ETFs traded on Tuesday was INR 1.20 billion, down from INR 1.52 billion on Monday.

At 1525 IST, the most-active December gold contract on the MCX was up 0.8% at INR 75,607 per 10 gm. The most-active December contract on COMEX was 0.8% higher at $2,634.30 per ounce. The highest call open interest for gold was at INR 76,000-77,000 strike prices, suggesting a bullish view. The highest put open interest was at INR 75,000-74,000 strikes for the Nov. 26 gold contract.

However, the upside in the bullion metal was restricted by a firm dollar, which makes commodities priced in the greenback expensive for holders of other currencies. At 1525 IST, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.3% at 106.52 on safe-haven buying.

SILVER prices also rose taking cues from COMEX and positive trends in gold and industrial metals. At 1525 IST, the most-active December contract of silver on the MCX was up 0.7% at INR 91,160 per kg. The same-month contract on COMEX was 0.9% higher at $31.49 per ounce.

On the options front, the highest call open interest for silver was at the INR 90,000-INR 100,000 strike prices. The highest put open interest was at INR 90,000-INR 85,000 strikes for the Nov. 26 silver expiry.

The MCX Bulldex, an index that tracks the real-time performance of gold and silver futures on the MCX, was up 151 points at 18845 points. As of 1518 IST, the December and February gold contracts recorded turnovers of INR 23.47 billion and INR 7.68 billion, respectively, on the MCX. The December and March silver contracts saw turnovers of INR 15.56 billion and INR 4.99 billion, respectively.

The spot gold-silver ratio, also known as the Mint ratio, fell to 83.66, indicating that silver had outperformed gold. The ratio measures the ounces of silver required to buy an ounce of gold. The ratio was 84.39 on Monday.

Outlook for the rest of the session:

--MCX gold seen at INR 74,020–INR 76,200 per 10 gm

--COMEX gold seen at $2,585.0–$2,652.0 an ounce

--MCX silver seen at INR 89,400-93,000 per kg

--COMEX silver seen at $30.60-$31.99 an ounce

End

US$1 = INR 84.10

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

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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