Global gold, silver prices dart up

Gold and silver are seeing heavy buying in the wake of the explosions in London early this evening and have gained by over 1 per cent in international trade.

Spot gold prices in Europe are expected to touch the $430 per troy ounce levels while silver is seen to hit $7.08 per troy ounce on the back of fund interest. Analysts say this was a temporary phenomenon and are awaiting the non-farm payrolls data that is expected tomorrow, which would determine the movement of both the precious metals.

With the data expected to be positive, the prices are once again expected to go down. However, with the blasts, the euro rallied against the dollar which reached a 12-month high early this week which propped the precious metals in the international trade.

Market sources point out that investors could look at selling off once the trend of the current highs are known. The prices of gold are expected to weaken to $418 levels in the coming week. Silver on the other hand still continues to be bearish in the long term with $6.75 levels seen as the next target.

In the local markets the price of standard gold (.995 purity) closed at Rs 6115 per 10 gram from Rs 6060 yesterday and gold of .999 purity closed higher at Rs 6150 from Rs 6095. Silver too gained to close at Rs 10,695 from Rs 10,595 per kg.

While going to press, August gold was trading at $426.40 per troy ounce on the Comex in New York Mercantile Exchange, up by 1.90 per cent from the previous day's close.

In the futures market in India, on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) the August contract of gold closed at 6,138.00 from Rs 6,084.00 yesterday with an open position of 5235 kg.

The September silver contract closed at Rs 1,0578.00 from Rs 9,849.00 with an open interest of 41,6130 kg.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange of India (NCDEX) the gold August contract closed at Rs 6150 the same as yesterday, while the silver contract closed at Rs 10565.00 from Rs 10455.00 with an open interest of 196950 gram.