Spot gold opens lower tracking futures on MCX, COMEX, weak demand
This story was originally published at 14:15 IST on 22 May 2026
Register to read our real-time news.Informist, Friday, May 22, 2026
By Taniva Singha Roy
MUMBAI – Gold prices in the spot market opened marginally lower on Friday, tracking futures on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the COMEX. Hops of a US-Iran peace agreement weakened following reports that Iran would retain its uranium stockpile domestically, contradicting earlier expectations of external transfer under any potential deal. This fuelled concerns that sustained high energy prices could raise global inflation and potentially force the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Higher interest rates dent demand for non-interest-yielding yellow metal.
Gold of 99.9% purity opened at INR 158,354 per 10 grams in Mumbai, down INR 184 per 10 grams. Dealers are offering discounts of INR 10,000 per 10 grams, they said.
"Prices fell as demand has been falling at high rates, and a higher import duty also weighed on gold demand," Nitin Kedia, national general secretary of the All-India Jewellers & Goldsmith Federation, said. Moreover, demand for bullion has also reduced as Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to avoid non-essential gold purchases to lower India's import bill and conserve foreign exchange, traders said.
However, gold has underlying support due to demand from central banks, which could limit the downside, traders said. "If there is a peace deal between the US and Iran going ahead, gold prices could again increase," Kedia said. End
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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. 2026. All rights reserved.
To read more please subscribe
Share this Story:
