Following Jerome Powell’s speech, anticipation of a probable rate decrease by the US Federal Reserve caused gold prices to spike to a new all-time high, reaching $2,100 per ounce. The price of the precious metal reached $2,146 per ounce during the early Asian stock market session.
August 2020 was the last that gold reached a historic high of $2,075.47 per ounce, primarily due to increased safe-haven demand during the pandemic. With the February 2024 futures contract on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) opening on a bullish note and reaching a record ₹64,000 per 10 kilos, the upward trend in gold prices also extended to the domestic market. After the first morning session, however, profit booking caused a fall that dropped the price of gold below $2,100.
In the meantime, the MCX saw a fast intraday high of ₹78,549 per kilogram of silver for the March 2024 expiry after starting at ₹78,450 per kilogram. At present, the price of an ounce of silver on the global market is approximately $25.50.
The 10-year US treasury yields also hit their lowest point in two and a half months on Friday. The slowing economy is said to be a direct result of tighter monetary policy, as projected by Federal Chair Powell, even though his speech dampened expectations of significant rate drops in the upcoming years.
