Precious metals witness a mixed finish

Gold turns pale but silver ends marginally higher

Precious metals ended mixed on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 at Comex. Yellow metal prices dropped but silver prices ended marginally higher. The dollar headed up earlier during the day pressuring bullions but the dollar ultimately had a flat finish going into close.

Gold for December delivery fell $9.8 or 0.6%, to end at $1,661 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. Prices rose to a high of $1,686.7 and fell to a low of $1,655.4 during intra day trading. For the month of September, gold shed 11%. It registered a rise of 8% for the third quarter ending September.



On Tuesday, silver prices for December delivery rose $0.02 (0.06%) to end at $32. For the month of September, silver shed 28%. It registered a drop of 14% for the third quarter ending September.

US stocks had a choppy trading session on Tuesday. Stocks had a mixed finish with only Nasdaq managing to end in the green. Early traders took most of their cues from Europe, where the region's major bourses moved listlessly after scoring strong gains of their own in recent sessions. Slovakia has attracted attention since political fighting there has kept officials from signing off on the expansion of the EFSF, resulting in some uncertainty over the matter.

Meanwhile, news that the Troika will make another disbursement of financial aid to Greece failed to regenerate buying interest, mostly because the short-term nature of the aid doesn't fully diminish the threat of a default by the country over a longer time span. Greece's Athex 20 tumbled almost 4% in its latest round of trade.

In the currency market on Tuesday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, headed up strongly earlier during the day after yesterday's big slump. But, the dollar pared its gains going to the close and ended flat for the day.

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. But bullion metals have registered increase in prices despite strong dollar in recent times and vice versa.

At the MCX, gold prices for December delivery closed higher by Rs 1 (0%) at Rs 26,664 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 26,853 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 26,625 per 10 grams during the day's trading.

At the MCX, silver prices for December delivery closed higher by Rs 241 (0.45%) at Rs 53,269/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 53,350/kg and rose to a high of Rs 53,595/Kg during the day's trading.