Gold fell by Rs 170 to Rs 78130 per 10 grams, silver fell by Rs 1850

According to the All India Sarafa Association, gold prices continued to fall for the third consecutive trading session on Friday in the national capital amid selling by jewelers and stockists and its price fell by Rs 170 to Rs 78,130 per 10 grams. This precious metal of 99.9 percent purity closed at Rs 78,300 per 10 grams on Thursday.

Silver prices were down by Rs 1,850 to Rs 88,150 kg due to weak demand from industrial units and coin makers. The metal has closed at Rs 90000 kg in the last session. Gold of 99.5 percent purity fell by Rs 170 to Rs 77,730 per 10 grams from Rs 77,900 per 10 gm earlier.

Local jewelers' slow demand was attributed to the fall in yellow metal prices by traders. Gold contracts for the month of February on Friday rose by Rs 50, or 0.07 percent, to Rs 75,701 per 10 grams in futures trading on MCX.

On Comex, gold saw some marginal buying at the $2,600 level while in the domestic MCX market Rs 75,500 level was a temporary support. Momentum continues to remain volatile amid uncertainties on the interest rate cycle view.

"Though the Fed has decided to keep rates low, its projections indicate lesser rate cuts in the future, which has kept gold prices under pressure for the last two days," said Jatin Trivedi, Vice President, Commodity & Currency, LKP Securities.

Meanwhile, silver futures for March delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) fell by Rs 647, or 0.74 percent, to Rs 86,540 per kg. Globally, Comex gold futures rose by $13.10 to $2,621.20 an ounce.

"Market players will keep an eye on the key personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index data due today and if the actuals are higher than estimates, precious metal stocks will witness more selling," said Saumil Gandhi, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities. In the foreign market, silver fell by 0.41 percent to Rs 29.29 per ounce.