India's gold futures eased on Friday after gaining around 1 percent in the past two sessions on lower crude oil, dimming the yellow metal's appeal as a hedge against inflation, analysts said.
"There is no clear trend as markets are still in a holiday mood," said Debjyoti Chatterjee, associate vice-president, MAPE ADMISI Commodity Research in Mumbai.
Overseas gold reversed early gains and traded lower on Friday after starting on a firm note in early 2009 trade, but a weaker dollar and expectations of more grim U.S. economic data could still ignite safe-haven buying from investors.
At 11:55 a.m., NYMEX light crude for February delivery CLc1 was down 4.89 percent at 42.42 a barrel after rising 14 percent on the final trading day of 2008.
In 2008, MCX gold futures MAUc1 on the continuation chart soared to a record 14,320 rupees on Oct. 10, up 35.1 percent from the close of 2007, before falling to 11,290 rupees on Oct. 24.
Gold ended the year higher by 29.2 percent at 13,690 rupees as investors sought safety in the precious metals complex amid the global financial turmoil. "For 2009, gold has to be positive due to its safe-haven appeal and would test the psychological level of 15,000 rupees (per 10 grams) at least by the first half of the calendar year," Chatterjee added.
Open interest for Feb gold on MCX was at 17,096 lots, down from 17,226 a day earlier. Volume on Thursday was 8.8 kgs.
Following are gold prices in rupees per 10 grams on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. at 11:59 a.m.
