The Hindu Business Line : Gold moves downwards during the week

New Delhi: A spiralling US dollar and a rebound in crude oil prices had spill over effects on the local bullion market, as gold moved further downward to 3-month intra-trade low, while silver recovered modestly despite lower global cues during the week u nder review.

The yellow metal completed a five-week streak of losing on continued selling by stockists in which it lost a total of Rs 1,645 or 12.35 per cent per ten grams. The white metal, however, touched a 6-month low during intra-day trade, but survived to close the week in a positive terrain on fag-end buying by industrial users and fabricators.

The surging US dollar and fall in oil prices shattered investor confidence in these metals as a safe investment instrument as a hedge in case of rising inflation.

As a result, gold tumbled nearly 3 per cent on Friday in Singapore, below the $ 800 an ounce for the first time since December 2007. Continuous uptrend in the dollar against major rivals depressed commodities, triggering heavy sales in gold. Gold fell to $788.65 an ounce, lowest since December 17 and was trading at $791.85 in Singapore this morning.

Spot gold hit an intra-day low of $787.10 an ounce from $811.25/812.65 an ounce, while silver declined to $12.49/12.59 an ounce from $14.15/14.21 late in New York on Thursday.

On the domestic front, standard gold (99.5 purity) eased by Rs 65 per ten grams to end the week at Rs 11,680 from last weekend's close of Rs 11,745. Pure gold (99.9 purity) also softened to finish the week at Rs 11,750 from the preceding weekend's close of Rs 11,810 per ten grams.

Silver ready (.999 fineness), however, recovered modestly by Rs 35 per kilo to settle the week at Rs 22,345 from Rs 22,310 previous weekend. - PTI

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