Gold trades slightly lower at ₹44,529 per 10 gram, Silver marginally up by over ₹200

Gold prices on Friday traded lower at ₹44,529 per 10 gram after a fall of ₹166 or 0.37 per cent on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX). Silver futures is marginally up by ₹225 or 0.35 per cent at ₹65,094 per kg after closing at ₹64,869 per kg in the previous session, while gold had closed at ₹44,695 per 10 gram.

The precious metals have plummeted from their peaks of last year by around ₹12,000. Gold, often considered as a safe haven asset traded at the high of ₹56,200 per 10 gram in August 2020 while silver peaked to trade at ₹77,800 per kg.

This is the second consecutive day of fall in the prices of gold on the back of a strong dollar. In the international market as well, gold slipped at a one week low with the spot gold rate down by 0.2 per cent at $1,724.03 per ounce. In the previous session it had hit the one week low at $1,721.46. The US gold futures also slipped 0.1 per cent to $1,722.70 per ounce.

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“Gold is a victim of the kind of recovery that we could be potentially seeing in the US dollar ... Better recovery unfolds so that's driving flows into US assets and pushing the dollar higher and that's what's really weighing on gold at the moment," news agency Reuters quoted IG Market analyst Kyle Rodda as saying.

The US Treasury yields that have been the major attraction among investors driving them away from the investment in the non-interest bearing asset. The US Treasury yields with gains of almost an year high increased the opportunity cost of holding the metal making it a less attractive investment. The higher returns on the yields are denting bullions appeal in the financial markets.

Silver also edged 0.1 per cent to $25.04, holding up a more than two month low of $24.39 per ounce that the metal hit on Thursday.