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Informist, Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2026

 

By Reshma Ravi

 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of gold fell on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the COMEX Wednesday as market participants now cautiously await the US Federal Open Market Committee's meeting decision and its summary of economic projections, due later in the day, analysts said.  

At 1656 IST, the most-active April GOLD contract on the MCX was down 0.7% at INR 154,920 per 10 grams. The most-active April contract on COMEX was down 0.7% at $4,973.0 per ounce. The most-active May SILVER contract on the MCX was up 0.1% at INR 252,912 per kilogram. The corresponding contract on COMEX was down 0.4% at $79.61 per ounce.

 

"The Fed is widely expected to hold rates steady for a second straight meeting when it announces its policy decision later in the day," SMC Global Securities said in a report.

 

Meanwhile, market participants will look for cues on how surging oil prices due to the West Asia war could influence the rate cut outlook, said Nitin Kedia, national general secretary of All India Jewellers & Goldsmith Federation. "...rising energy prices have reignited inflation concerns, causing scaling back the probability of early rate cuts," ICICI Direct said in a report.

 

In the early hours of Wednesday, Iran confirmed the killings of its security chief Ali Larijani and Basij force commander Gholamreza Soleimani after Israel said it carried out both assassinations, Al Jazeera reported. In response, Iran has launched more strikes on central Israel, with at least two people reported killed from severe shrapnel wounds, the report said. Larijani was the most senior Iranian official to be killed since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

 

Meanwhile, market participants still expect a rate cut of 25–50 basis points by the US Federal Reserve by the end of this year, said Manoj Jain, director of Prithvi Finmart. However, the rate cut depends on when the West Asia conflict eases, Jain added.   

 

Outlook for the rest of the session:

--MCX gold seen at INR 152,000–INR 157,000 per 10 grams

--COMEX gold seen at $4,920.0–$5,010.0 an ounce

--MCX silver seen at INR 245,000-INR 258,000 per kg

--COMEX silver seen at $77.00-$81.00 an ounce

 

End

 

US$1 = INR 92.63

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

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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