Gold market sentiment likely to remain strong

Hyderabad: With the US dollar gaining strength vis-à-vis other leading currencies and treasury bills fetching higher returns, investors have shifted gears in favour of stocks and treasury bills. Consequently, New York gold declined and closed at $1,733.30 (per Ounce), while silver followed the suit and closed at $25.03 (per Ounce). Platinum and palladium closed at $1,182 (per Ounce) and $2,598 (per Ounce) respectively.

Other economic parameters remained stable. However, Brent closed at the lower level of $64.57 (per barrel) so also Crude MCX which was quoted at Rs 4,466 (per barrel). While Gold MCX stood at Rs 44,650 (per 10 gms), MCX Silver closed at Rs 64,648 (per kg) and Copper MCX closed at Rs 671 (per kg). Sensex and Nifty 50 closed at 69,008.50 and 14,507.30 points respectively. On Saturday, leading foreign currencies' exchange rates were, US Dollar: Rs 72.45, British Pound: Rs 99.91, Euro: Rs 85.67, Singapore $: Rs 53.83, Swiss Franc: Rs 77.13, Australian $: Rs 55.29, Saudi Riyal: Rs 19.32, New Zealand Dollar: Rs 50.80, Kuwaiti Dinar: Rs 240.03, Omani Rial: Rs 188.40 and UAE Dirham: Rs 19.72, Japanese Yen: Rs 0.66 and Hong Kong Dollar: Rs 9.32.

In local markets, standard gold (24 carats) declined by Rs 380 and closed at Rs 45, 710 (per 10 gms). Ornamental gold too, followed the suit and was quoted in the range of Rs 41,800 - 41,900 on the closing day. Silver (0.999) also declined by Rs 2,500 and closed at Rs 69,300 (per kg). Considering the evolving atmosphere of bonhomie among leading economies including the USA, global market sentiment is expected to remain fairly strong in the coming few weeks.