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Informist, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025

By Sandeep Sinha

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of gold on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India rose amid low thin volumes and lack of fresh triggers from international markets. Sentiment was supported by weakness in the rupee against the dollar, which makes precious metals priced in dollars expensive for domestic buyers.

The rupee was down 0.1 at 85.65 against the greenback at 1445 IST. Trading volumes remained thin today as COMEX was shut for New Year's Day.

In 2024, the yellow metal recorded one of its best performances in a decade, surging over 26%, driven by central bank purchases, geopolitical uncertainties, and monetary policy easing, which supported safe-haven demand for gold.

At 1440 IST, the most-active February GOLD contract on the MCX was up 0.1% at INR 76,843 per 10 grams. The highest call open interest for gold was at the INR 80,000 strike price, suggesting a bullish view. The highest put open interest was at the INR 74,000 strike for the Jan. 27 contract.

Investors will take cues from US job openings and labour turnover survey report, Automatic Data Processing employment report, December non-farm payrolls data, and minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's December meeting, to be released next week.

On Tuesday, gold holdings with SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed ETF, remained steady for the third consecutive day at 872.52 tonnes. The fund has a market value of $73.22 billion.

SILVER prices rose because of short-covering and positive movement in gold. At 1440 IST, the most-active March contract on the MCX was up 0.4% at INR 87,613 per kg. On the options front, the highest call open interest was at the INR 100,000 strike price. The highest put open interest was at INR 90,000-INR 85,000 strikes for the Feb. 24 expiry contract.

The MCX Bulldex, an index that tracks the real-time performance of gold and silver futures on the MCX, was up 27 points at 18589 points. As of 1440 IST, the February and April gold contracts recorded turnovers of INR 4.84 billion and INR 170.61 million, respectively. The March and May silver contracts saw turnovers of INR 2.27 billion and INR 85.67 million, respectively.

Outlook for the rest of the session:

--MCX gold seen at INR 76,366–77,212 per 10 gm

--MCX silver seen at INR 86,950-87,635 per kg

End

US$1 = INR 85.65

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

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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