MCX Gold futures for October are witnessing some profit selling today as traders lock in gains ahead of the weekends. Prices tested a high of nearly Rs 18800 per 10 grams yesterday and ended with smashing gains of more than Rs 100 per 10 grams. The COMEX Gold futures had neared $1240 per ounce mark before easing marginally. The commodity is down in the Asian moves, quoting with a loss of $1.20 to trade at $1234.20 per ounce. The US dollar is broadly mixed and hovers just above 1.2800 against the Euro, after gaining at a feverish pace in New York. The DOW succumbed heavy losses following a poor manufacturing report and labor market data yesterday.
The manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area unexpectedly deteriorated in the month of August, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia revealed in a report on Thursday, with the index of regional activity unexpectedly falling into negative territory.The Philly Fed said its diffusion index of current activity fell to a negative 7.7 in August from a positive 5.1 in July, with a negative reading indicating a contraction in manufacturing activity. With the decrease, the index turned negative for the first time since July of 2009.
This hurt the sentiments severally. Further, the US labor markets showed no signs of a recovery. The Labor Department said that jobless claims rose to 500,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 488,000. This was the highest level in nine months for the data.
Dow slumped around 200 points in intraday moves and closed down 144.33 points or 1.4 percent to 10,271.21. The COMEX Gold futures jumped sharply following this, though the intraday gains were overcome to a certain extent in the closing hours and the downward bias extended in Asia. The metal has rebounded quite nicely in the current week, with a conclusive break above $1220-25 area auguring well for the commodity. MCX Gold ended at Rs 18775, up Rs 102 per 10 grams. The counter slid lower to form a bottom at Rs 18730 per 10 grams and quotes at Rs 18478 per 10 grams right now, down Rs 27 or 0.14% on the day.
