Price rally peters out

DOMESTIC/ Bullion

The prices of gold both globally and in India slumped from last week's dizzy heights.

Internationally, gold prices saw a loss of over $15 in just a week, hitting one-month lows. Domestic gold prices saw a decline of roughly Rs 200 per 10g.

The Comex on the New York Mercantile Exchange saw prices crashing to $435.40 per troy ounce Friday, on the benchmark February contract coming off last week's 16-year high of $458.10 on Thursday.

The spot London gold fix too saw massive losses to close the week at $ 434 (PM) from last Friday's $448.65.

This came on the back of a comparatively steadier dollar which is expected to cause a further liquidation in the market, leading to a support level seen at $430 levels, and could possibly even go down to $425 and subsequently $418, say analysts.

Silver which is much more volatile than gold, saw much heavier losses.

It closed at $6.62/6.65 its lowest in the last two months, down from $6.74/6.78.

In the Indian market, during the week ended December 11, gold corrected over the week taking its cue from international prices.

Spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed higher from last week's close of Rs 6400 from last week 's Rs 6555 on Saturday per 10 gram.

Spot gold (99.90 purity) closed at Rs 6440 on Saturday from last week's Rs 6595.

Silver lost Rs 1600 in the week. Spot silver (.999) closed sharply lower from last week's close of Rs 12190 to end at Rs 10715 per kilogram.

In futures trading, the activity displayed volatile tendencies with considerably less activity over the week.

On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), December gold decreased to Rs 6353 from Rs 6565, with open positions worth 531500 gram and a volume of contract of 239400 gram.

January gold closed lower at Rs 6353 compared with last week's close of Rs 6543.

Open interest and volume were at 438600 gram and 204000 gram respectively.

NCDEX December silver closed at Rs 10377 compared with Rs 11836 last week with open interest at 90225 kilogram and volume of contract at 141455.

The January contract closed at Rs 10405 from Rs 11730 last week, with open interest of 75680 and a volume of 100585.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), the February contract closed at Rs 6319 from Rs 6524 with an open interest of 3147 kg, and a volume of 2483 kg.

The April contract closed from last week's Rs 6525 at Rs 6330 with open interest of 85 kg and a volume of 11 kg.

The February Gold HNI (High Net Worth Individuals) contract closed at Rs 6295 on Friday from last week's Rs 6567.

HNI Silver March closed at Rs 9785 from Rs 11704 last week, with an open interest of 1650 kg and a volume of 1500 kg traded.

The March 3 silver contract fell to close at Rs 10377 on Friday from Rs 11816 last week with open positions at 161700 kg and volume of 272130 kg.

The May contract traded at Rs 10288 from the previous week's close Rs 11751, with 1800 kg positions open, and a volume of 630 kg.