Mr. Navneet Damani, Group Senior VP – Commodity Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Gold prices inched lower, but remained in sight of record highs it hit last week as the prospect of lower U.S. interest rates battered the dollar and presented a brighter outlook for metal markets. Bullion surged to record highs last week, as market participants welcomed dovish comments from the Federal Reserve. Some safe haven demand also buoyed gold as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas yielded few results, while hostilities in the Middle East persisted.
Prospect of a lower interest rate weighed on the Dollar index which fell to a 13 month low, however some recovery was seen in yesterday's session weighing on metal prices. Fed Chair Jerome Powell in the Jackson Hole symposium said that rate cuts were imminent and that further cooling in the labor market was unwelcome. Hezbollah had launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel over the weekend, Russia also launched drones at Ukraine.
However, the UN and other major nations are continuously trying to ease off the situation by initiating ceasefire talks. Focus today will be on US consumer confidence data. Broader trend on COMEX could be in the range of $2455 - 2485 and on domestic front prices could hover in the range of Rs 71,300- 72,300.
