India's gold futures extended losses for a fifth day on Wednesday pressured by a firmer rupee making the dollar-quoted asset cheaper.
Analysts said investors were unwilling to take large positions ahead of the European Central Bank's (ECB) meet on Thursday. The ECB is expected to slash interest rates by 50 basis points from 2.5 percent now, to fight the economic downturn.
The Indian rupee rose on Wednesday as a stronger opening in the share market renewed hopes of fresh capital inflows, and strong support for the currency past 49 per dollar saw exporters and banks sell dollars.
The benchmark gold February contract on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India lower by 17 rupees at 12,957 rupees per 10 grams at 11:41 a.m., after falling 3.4 for the previous four sessions.
"Gold prices are expected to recover and may take support from stronger crude oil and weaker dollar," said Debjyoti Chatterjee, associate vice-president at MAPE ADMISI Commodity Research.
Buying is recommended at 12,900 rupees, with a target of 13,100-13,200 and with a stop loss of 12,850, Chatterjee added.
Open interest for Feb gold on MCX was at 13,739 lots, up from 13,678 a day earlier. Volume on Tuesday was 59.03 kgs.
