Gold and silver prices fell on Monday amid ongoing coronavirus outbreak. According to China’s National Health Commission, around 2590 new infections were confirmed on Saturday across China. “Gold on Monday morning faltered although coronavirus killed 361 people in China and more than 17,000 are reported infected. The safe-haven demand has increased but the yellow metal witnessed profit booking,” Jigar Trivedi, Fundamental Research Analyst – Commodities, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers said. On MCX, gold April futures were trading Rs 223 or 0.54 per cent lower at Rs 40,982 per 10 grams, while silver March futures were trading at Rs 46500 per Kg, down Rs 618 or 1.31 per cent on Monday.
“The Peoples Bank of China has cut RRR by 10 basis points to inject approximately $174 billion into the system as China returned to trading after a two-week-long holiday. Gold has depreciated even after the rupee weakened sharply in the morning session. For intraday we expect the tone to be bearish in the yellow metal. Support is Rs. 40,840 & Resistance is Rs. 41,160,” Jigar Trivedi said.
Spot gold fell 0.4 per cent to $1,582.82 per ounce, having gained more than 1 per cent in the previous session. US gold futures edged higher by 0.1 per cent to $1,588.80, as per the Reuters news report.
Back home, the domestic equity market benchmarks were trading over half a per cent higher. S&P BSE Sensex was trading 226 points or 0.57 per cent higher at 39,962 points, while broader Nifty 50 index was ruling at 11,735, up 73 points or 0.63 per cent. Cigarettes-to-hotels firm ITC was trading 3.5 per cent lower after FM Sitharaman proposed to hike excise duty on cigarettes and other tobacco products.