Gold traded in a range on Monday as the Street awaits key data points including the inflation numbers in the US. Last week, top officials in the Federal Reserve reiterated their stance on interest rate cuts, suggesting that they would need more data before they start the rate-slashing exercise.

Taking cues from the global price trends, the MCX April gold futures were trading at 62,214 per 10 grams at 9:20 am, down by Rs 80 or 0.13%. Meanwhile, the March Silver contracts were up by Rs 259 or 0.37% at Rs 71,033 per kg.

On the Comex, gold futures were trading at $2,036.20 per troy ounce, down by $2.50 or 0.12%, while Silver futures were hovering at $22.735 per troy ounce, up by $0.141 or 0.620%.

The dollar index (DXY) was trading at 104 against a basket of six top currencies, down by 0.11 points or 0.10%. It has extended its declines by 0.42% over the past five trading sessions.

On Friday, the MCX Gold April contract closed at Rs 62,303, up by Rs 9 or 0.01% while the March Silver futures settled flat at Rs 70,774.

Gold’s year-to-date (YTD) losses are at Rs 981 per 10 grams or 1.55% while month-to-date (MTD) declines stand at Rs 500 or 0.80%, Anuj Gupta, Head Commodity & Currency, HDFC Securities informed. As for Silver, the YTD fall stand at Rs 3,420 per kg or 4.59% while on an MTD basis, the same is at Rs 1,240 or 1.73, he added.”Gold prices remained stable after experiencing a slight drop last week and investors this week will be closely monitoring the potential impact of upcoming US economic data on interest rate decisions. Specifically, they are looking forward to the core inflation data expected to be released on Tuesday, which is predicted to show a slight decrease to 3.7% on a yearly basis,” Neha Qureshi, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at Anand Rathi Commodities & Currencies said.This data could have a bearing on the Federal Reserve’s future actions as they require more proof that inflation is moving closer to their 2% goal before considering reducing interest rates, she opined.

On the daily chart, the April MCX Gold reveals a rising channel pattern, with the current price hovering near the critical support level of 62,100 and a breach of this support could signal a bearish trend, Qureshi said. Currently, the price is trading below both the 21-day and 50-day DEMA, which is acting as a strong resistance indicating a prevailing bearish sentiment, she added.

The Anand Rathi analyst sees the key resistance level at Rs 62,800-63,100 while support at Rs 62,100-61,800.

Price of gold in major physical bullion markets like Delhi, Ahmedabad and other cities is Rs 63000 per 10 grams while those of 1 kg of silver are Rs 72,500. Click to know more

Intraday Trading Strategy by Neha Qureshi

– Sell MCX April Gold futures at Rs 62,300 with a stop loss of Rs 62,600 and a price target of Rs 61,800.

– Buy MCX March Silver futures at Rs 70,800 with a stop loss of Rs 69,800 and a price target of Rs 72,800.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

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