Gold prices rose today in global markets after US President Donald Trump announced that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for Covid-19 with just a month to go before the US presidential election. Spot gold rose 0.4% to $ 1,913.90 an ounce, recovering from a previous loss of 0.8%. Silver prices rose 0.9% to $ 23.9992 an ounce, also recovering from a 1.3% loss.
Among other commodities, oil and copper prices tumbled today, while Dow futures fell more than 1.5% after Donald Trump tweeted that he and the first lady would “begin our quarantine process.” shortly after one of his closest advisers, Hope Hicks, fell ill. the coronavirus.
The flight to safety also pushed the US dollar higher against a basket of other currencies. Indian markets, including the MCX commodity exchange, are closed today due to a public holiday. Gold futures on MCX had risen 0.4% to ₹50,544 on Thursday, while silver was up 1.6% to ₹60,900 per kg on Thursday.
Gold has rebounded to a record this year as large amounts of stimulus were injected into economies to curb the damage from the coronavirus pandemic. After hitting an all-time high in August, gold prices have staggered for the past eight weeks amid a stronger dollar.
Analysts say gold is likely to find support at lower levels amid low interest rates, a resurgence of Covid cases in some parts of the world and increased uncertainty heading into the US election.
Gold investors are also looking forward to the US monthly payroll data due today.
On Thursday, the US House of Representatives approved a $ 2.2 trillion Democratic plan to provide further economic relief from the COVID-19 pandemic as a bipartisan deal continued to elude the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and to the White House. Gold tends to benefit from widespread stimulus measures as it is seen as a hedge against inflation. (With contributions from the agency)
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