Gold prices fell sharply, while silver rates edged higher on Tuesday as Indian rupee gained against US dollar in the opening session. “MCX gold has opened with a weak undertone as the rupee has appreciated in the morning session. Yesterday the yellow metal fell sharply since traders booked profits. The concerns related to coronavirus are still existing as China has reported a rise in death toll and every day a minimum of 2,000 people are getting reported as infected by the virus,” Jigar Trivedi, Fundamental Research Analyst-Commodities, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers said. On MCX, gold April futures were trading Rs 187 or 0.46 per cent lower at Rs 40,557 per 10 grams, while silver March futures were ruling flat, up just Rs 35 to trade at Rs 45925 per Kg on Tuesday.
Spot gold was unchanged at $1,575.67 per ounce, after hitting its highest since January 8 at $1,591.46 in the previous session. US gold futures fell 0.2 per cent to $1,580.00. “In the meantime, the dollar has appreciated as factory activity in the US has improved significantly from 47.8 a month ago to 50.9 in January. For intraday, we expect the yellow metal to remain under pressure,” Jiagr Trivedi said.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex and Nifty were over 2 per cent higher led by gains in ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, HDFC Bank and Tata Steel. S&P BSE Sensex was trading 790 points or 2 per cent higher at 40,652 points, while the broader Nifty 50 index was ruling at 11,939 points, up 230 points or 1.97 per cent.
On Tuesday, oil prices rose as investors regained calm after Monday’s sharp sell-off on fears of the impact of the coronavirus. Brent crude was at $54.66 a barrel, up 21 cents, or nearly 0.4 per cent, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 32 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $50.43 a barrel.