Gold price jumps on softening US dollar, Middle East crisis

After losing for two straight weeks, gold prices finally logged a modest 0.75 percent gain in the week gone by. Gold futures contract on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) for April 2024 expiry finished at ₹62,325 per 10 gm level on Friday. In the international market, spot gold price ended at 2,035 per ounce levels, logging an impressive 2.15 percent rise from its two-month low of ₹1,992 levels that it had touched at the end of the first fortnight of February. According to commodity market experts, gold prices are finding support from the softening US dollar and the Middle East crisis. They said that the US Fed minutes released last week didn't signal any timeline for interest rate cuts and re-iterated the challenge of achieving the target of a 2 percent inflation rate. Hence, gold prices are expected to remain sideways. However, they maintained that geopolitical tension and the US dollar rate would continue to dictate the yellow metal rally.