Daily Times

Gold prices lowered on Tuesday amid higher US Treasury bond yields and stronger dollar after falling sharply a day earlier.

As of 1240 hours GMT, gold in the international market was available at $1,800.20 per ounce, shedding $1.20. Gold faced the overnight sharp retracement slide from the $1,830-32 region – the highest level since November 22 – to $1,801.40.

The price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan, meanwhile, went down to Rs102,200 after shedding Rs1,000. Gold in the local market was available at Rs103,200 on Monday last. A relatively higher decrease in price of the yellow metal in the local market was due to an overnight decrease in its price when the local market was closed.

According to experts, hopes of steady economic recovery, to a larger extent, offset worries about the continuous surge in new Covid-19 cases globally and remained supportive of the optimistic market mood. This was evident from an extension of the recent bullish run in the equity markets to record highs, which acted as a headwind for the safe-haven gold.

From a technical perspective, a sustained break below the $1,800 mark might shift the bias in favour of bearish traders and prompt some technical selling. The gold price might then accelerate the slide towards the $1,785 horizontal support en-route the $1,770 region and December swing low, around the $1,753 area.

On the flip side, the $1,830-32 region should continue to act as a key barrier, which if cleared decisively should push gold prices further towards the $1,850 region. The upward trajectory could then allow bulls to challenge the November 2021 swing high, around the $1,877 with some intermediate hurdle near the $1,870 area.

Earlier, gold ended last week on a positive note with 1.67 percent gain, making it the third consecutive week for the yellow metal to close positively. Similarly, on a month-on-month basis, the gold price surged 3.44 percent ($60.90) from $1,768.90 on November 30 to $1829.80 on December 31, 2021. However, gold shed 3.59 percent in 2021 on a year-on-year basis.