Daily Times

Gold prices inched down in the international market on Wednesday, a day after the US inflation data helped the yellow metal move up from two-week lows. Gold in the international market was available at $1,796.90 per ounce after shedding $8.70 at 1255 hours GMT. The gold price crossed $1,800 level to close at $1,807.60 a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan increased to Rs97,900 after gaining Rs900. The closing prices of the yellow metal in the country remained Rs97,000 on Tuesday last. The prices in local market increased due to depreciation of Pakistani rupee against the US dollar as well as overnight increase in price when the local market was closed.

According to experts, gold struggled to capitalise on the previous day’s post-US CPI strong move up from two-week lows and faced rejection near the very important 200-day SMA, $1,800, on Wednesday. They said that a positive risk tone, along with a modest uptick in the US Treasury bond yields, acted as a headwind for the non-yielding yellow metal, though a combination of factors helped limit the downside. They said that worries about the fast-spreading delta variant and a global economic slowdown extended some support to traditional safe-haven assets, including gold. The market concerns were further fuelled by Wednesday’s disappointing Chinese macro data, which underscored recent signs of slackening economic momentum in the world’s second-largest economy, they added.