Dubai gold rates fall further as global spot price dips under $4,000
By Dubai Currents Staff1 min read
Dubai gold prices extended their decline on Friday, tracking a slip in the global spot price below the $4,000-an-ounce mark. Data from the Dubai Jewellery Group showed 24-carat gold opened at Dh481.75 per gram, down from Dh485 at Thursday’s market close.
Other carats also fell: 22K traded at Dh446.25 per gram, 21K at Dh427.75, and 18K at Dh366.75.
Global pressures weigh on gold
Spot gold was trading at $3,999 an ounce on Friday. Analysts linked the drop to higher oil prices, which have stoked inflation concerns, and robust US inflation data that reinforced expectations for another Federal Reserve interest rate hike later this year.
Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, said: “Gold’s slide is asking serious questions of technical support around the $4,000 level. Dip buying has previously limited declines, but it remains to be seen whether value buying will come to gold’s rescue.”
“There were enough bullish indicators in the US macro data this week to keep the Fed on track for a potential December hike, which combined with oil at present levels means that gold continues to lose out from an inflation perspective,” he added.
Oil prices rise, silver falls
Oil prices trended higher on Friday. Brent crude was trading above $116.2 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate stood at $103.1, both up more than one per cent. Silver declined 1.5 per cent to $51.52 an ounce.
Analyst sees mixed signals for Fed
Artem Bakushev, Head of Risk at Monaxa, said the US unemployment data gave the Fed an uncomfortable kind of good news: growth stronger than expected but the consumer losing some speed. “Gold is falling because this is not a clean rate-cut signal. Core PCE held at 0.3 per cent and jobless claims stayed exceptionally low at 194,000. That gives the Fed little reason to rush, even as softer consumer data begins to appear beneath the headline growth number,” Bakushev said.
