Gold Prices In India Fall On Profit Booking, Rupee’s Revival, Easing US-Iran Tensions

On Friday, gold prices in India fell below the Rs 40,000 level as traders in the domestic and international markets booked profits made this week and moved to riskier assets like equity on easing Middle-East tensions.

Gold futures on MCX slipped by 0.4 percent to Rs 39,608 per 10 grams. In the international market, spot gold fell by 0.3 percent to $1,548.17 an ounce.

Earlier this week, amid US-Iran tensions, the yellow metal touched a new all-time high of Rs 41,278/10 grams and was trading over $1,600 per ounce globally. Gold has traditionally been a safe-haven asset for investors in times of political and economic uncertainties.

On Thursday, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution to stop President Donald Trump from further military action against Iran. Further, comments from Trump and Iran pointed towards de-escalation in tensions between the two countries.

The precious metal's prices could ease further next week as China's Vice Premier Liu He flies to Washington to sign the 'Phase 1' trade deal between the two largest economies in the world on 15 January.

Rupee's recovery also aided the fall in prices for buyers of the metal in India. On Friday, the domestic currency opened flat but soon strengthened to hit a three-week high of 71.13 against the US dollar on positive stock market sentiments.