Precious metal prices fell sharply in India after US Federal Reserve hiked rate last night and signalled more hikes next year. On MCX, gold futures were down 0.6% to ₹54,352 per 10 gram while silver slumped 1.7% to ₹68,145 per kg. Earlier this week, the yellow metal had hit a nine-month high when rates crossed ₹55,000 per 10 gram in Indian market.
In global markets, spot gold slipped but still remained firm above $1,806 per ounce. The dollar index edged up after Fed rate hike, weighing on the precious metal.
“US Fed hiked rates by 50 bps along expected lines to take the target Fed funds rate range to 4.25-4.50%. The Dot plot which indicates Fed members’ expectations of future rate hikes indicated median expectation for Fed funds rate by 2023 end at 5.13%, compared to 4.63% in September. Policy stance is still not sufficiently restrictive yet. Pace of rate hikes is not the most important question. Where the terminal rate would be and how long the policy would remain restrictive i.e. how long elevated rates would persist are more important,” IFA Global said in a note.
Gold is traditionally known as an inflation hedge but higher interest rates tend to dim the bullion’s appeal as it increases the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding metal.
SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.1% to 911.56 tonnes on Wednesday. Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.4% to $23.81, platinum lost 0.1% to $1,027.82 and palladium was down 0.1% to $1,914.98.
Investors and traders will keep an eye on today’s European Central Bank and the Bank of England meeting which are likely to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve with half-point rate hikes.
“We expect bullion prices to remain volatile in today’s session ahead of the ECB and BOE meeting. Gold has support at $1788-1774 while resistance is at $1820-1828. Silver has support at $23.40-23.05, while resistance is at $23.95-24.18. In INR terms gold has support at ₹54,420-54,250, while resistance is at Rs54,980, 55,150. Silver has support at Rs68,450-67,880, while resistance is at Rs69,520–69,980,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd. (With Agency Inputs)
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