Gold futures opened in red on Monday, making a tepid start of 2022. International gold, on the other hand, scaled to $1,833 in the opening trades on January 3 touching highest levels since $1,853 on November 22, 2021.

Gold February contract on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) opened marginally lower at ₹48,041 per 10 grams down by ₹58 against the previous close of ₹48,099.

MCX silver March Futures too slipped by about 0.5 per cent to open at ₹62,410 a kg on Monday, down ₹250 from previous close of ₹62,660.

Comex Gold starts year 2022 above $1800

CME gold futures surged beyond $1800 in the early trades on Monday to hit an intra-day high of $1833 an oz (a troy ounce is equal to 31.1 grams). Gold gained by over $32 from previous lows of December 31.

CME gold February last quoted at $1825 on Monday early trades.

The most active comex Silver March contract tracked positive momentum in gold. CME Silver March Futures last quoted at $23.18 an oz at the opening trades on Monday. The prices hit intra-day high of $23.44, highest levels seen since November 29.

MCX Gold Futures trades weak

MCX gold February futures opened in red and maintained the negative territory. The yellow metal was last quoted at ₹48066 per 10 grams, down ₹33 at 11 am Monday. The Open interest for the February contract was 8572 lots on Monday.

MCX Silver Futures tracked overall weakness in bullion. After opening in red, silver slipped further into red on Monday. Silver March contract was last quoted at ₹62,346 a kg, down ₹314 at 11 am on Monday. The open interest was recorded at 10,487 lots in the early trades on MCX.

Spot Gold quotes above ₹48000

Spot gold stayed suppressed during the past year 2021 - as prices slipped by about 4 per cent during the year. This made 2021 one of the rare years when yellow metal gave negative yearly returns.

Spot gold prices ended the year above ₹48,000 levels and was last quoted at ₹48,083 per 10 grams of 999 purity fine gold as quoted by India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) for December 31.

Spot Silver too inched up to close the year at ₹61,979 a kg a tad lower than ₹62,000 levels.

Analysts speak

In its note on Gold, Kedia Advisory stated that the yellow metal has eased in 2021 as a recovering global economy pushed more investors toward riskier assets and curbed interest for safe-haven assets such as bullion. Adding to this mix were indications that central banks would speed up reining in their massive pandemic-led money printing to jump-start the economy.

Notably, global equities made advances at the start of the new year pointing at the investors' preference for the riskier assets despite several countries including the US, UK and parts of Europe adding record new COVID-19 cases amidst Omicron threat.

For Monday, analysts expect MCX Gold to move between ₹47670-48348, while silver prices likely to move between ₹61895-63099.

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