Gold prices remain firm

Hyderabad : Both gold and silver remained firm in the global markets. Even when the big market players were busy weighing the pros and cons of the recent Fed Rates hike, there came test-explosion of the Hydrogen bomb by North Korea and escalation of tensions in Indo-Pak relationship has put a premium on the prices of gold and silver in the recent time.

This trend justifies our previously published consistent stand on the subject that the impact of Fed Rate hike on gold and silver would be minimal and short-lived.

In the local market, both the precious metal recorded appreciation. While standard gold and ornamental gold gained Rs.1,000 (per 10 gms) over previous week silver of 0.999 purity was up by Rs 450 (per kg).

Standard gold (24 carats) after closing at Rs 25,370 (per 10 gms) in the previous week appreciated moderately during the last week and finally closed at Rs 26,370. Ornamental gold followed suit and closed in the higher range of Rs 25,740-25,840. Similarly, silver (0.999) also appreciated by Rs 450 and closed at Rs 33,750 (per kg). For the afore-mentioned reasons the market for gold and silver is expected to look northward for the present.

Commodities
The sentiment in local general commodity and kirana markets remained firm. The belated decision to import Tuar Dal through MMTC is likely to bring down the price-spiral after the imported Dal reaches India and enters the Dal markets. The sentiment in other pulses as well as common edible oils such as groundnut oil, groundnut refined oil, cottonseed refined oil, rice-bran refined oil, rap-seed refined oil and kardi refined oil were moderate while tilseed oil and vanaspati ruled firm.