NEW DELHI: Gold prices were trading flat with a positive bias on Monday but remained above major psychological levels, lingering near two-week highs. Investors eyed developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict as they priced in the US Federal Reserve’s more aggressive measures to combat inflation.

Gold futures on MCX were trading up 0.09 per cent or Rs 48 at Rs 51,495 per 10 grams. Silver futures rose 0.23 per cent or Rs 153 to Rs 68,029 per kg.

Pritam Patnaik, Head – Commodities, Axis Securities said that the metal prices have largely remained range-bound as attempts at peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are overshadowed by an ongoing fight between the two.

“Fed’s policymakers made it clear that the central bank needs to take a lot more aggressive steps to combat the current inflation. Developments in the Ukraine-Russia peace talks and on-ground war developments will dictate the price direction,” Patnaik added.

Fed last week raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point and forecast an aggressive plan to push borrowing costs to restrictive levels, which tend to raise the opportunity cost of holding non-interest paying gold.

Ravi Singh, Vice President and Head of Research, ShareIndia said that after the Fed rate hike, investors are now profit booking and covering their positions in gold and could be diverting their investments from gold instruments to equity.

In the spot market, the highest purity gold was sold at Rs 51,564 per 10 grams while silver was priced at Rs 68,005 per kg on Monday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

The spot prices of gold have dropped about Rs 1,650 per 10 grams since March 8, whereas silver has eased about Rs 2,900 per kg during the period under review.

Trading strategy
“We expect gold prices to trade sideways to down for the day with COMEX Spot gold support at $1920 and resistance at $1970 per ounce. MCX Gold April support lies at Rs. 51800 and resistance at Rs. 52600 per 10 gram,” said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.

Global markets
Spot gold was flat at $1,921.80 per ounce by 0113 GMT, after touching its lowest since February 28 at $1,894.70 last week. US gold futures were down 0.3 per cent to $1,923.90.

Palladium rose 1.6 per cent to $2,529.72 per ounce. Spot silver was up 0.2 percent to $25.00 per ounce, platinum rose 0.7 per cent to $1,029.21.