Precious metals end marginally higher

Strong dollar restricts the gains

Precious metal prices ended marginally higher on Monday, 26 April 2010 at Comex. Persisting problems surrounding Greece and its budgetary deficit kept precious metals strong. However, a strong dollar restricted precious metals' gains.

Generally, a stronger dollar pressures demand for dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil and gold, which become more expensive for holders of other currencies and also vice versa.

On Monday, gold for June delivery ended at $1,154 an ounce, higher by $0.30 (0.03%) an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier during the day, it fell to a low of $1,151.1 and rose to a high of $1,160.7. Last week, gold ended higher by 1.5%. For the month of March, gold slid 0.4%. For the first quarter of this year, gold rose by 1.7%, its sixth quarterly rise. On a year to date basis, gold is higher by 5.2%.

On Monday, May Comex silver futures ended higher by 14 cents (0.8%) at $18.33 an ounce. Last week, silver lost 2.9%. For the month of March, silver ended higher by 5%. For the first quarter of this year, silver rose by 3%. On a year to date basis, silver is higher by 7.7%.

In the currency market on Monday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against basket of six other currencies rose by 0.2%.

Gold had ended FY 2009 higher by 24%. Silver futures had ended 2009 up 50%. The dollar index had lost 4.2% against its counterparts last year.

Last year, after hitting a low at $807.30 per ounce on 15 January 2009, gold futures rallied almost 51% to hit an all-time high at $1217.40 per ounce during early December of 2009 but fell from those levels at the end. Silver futures had hit a low at $10.42 on 15 January 2009 and hit a high at $19.30 per ounce on 2 December 2009. Like gold, silver also ended lower than its all time high level.

At the MCX, gold prices for June delivery closed lower by Rs 22 (0.13%) at Rs 16,968 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 17,015 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 16,945 per 10 grams during the day's trading.

At the MCX, silver prices for May delivery closed Rs 28 (0.1%) higher at Rs 27,730/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 27,749/kg and rose to a high of Rs 27,835/Kg during the day's trading.