Gold prices leap as rising Covid cases lead to flight to safety

NEW DELHI: Gold and silver prices leaped on Friday as rapid increase in coronavirus cases hit the risk appetite of investors, leading to rise in demand of safe haven assets even as the rupee gained against the US dollar.

The number of active cases have doubled in the last two days to 2,069, as per the government data. World over, the number of cases hit the 1 million mark with nearly 53,000 deaths.

Gold futures were up 1.02 per cent or Rs 441 to Rs 43,681 per 10 grams. Silver futures were up 3.05 per cent or Rs 1,218 to Rs 41,090 per kg.



The Indian spot gold markets remained shut on Thursday due to countrywide lockdown on account of Covid-19, according to HDFC Securities. The country is undergoing a 21-day lockdown since last week.

Globally, gold inched down after rising 1.4 per cent in the previous session as the U.S. dollar firmed, but record high weekly U.S. jobless claims filings kept a check on bullion's downside.

Spot gold eased 0.1 per cent to $1,610.64 per ounce by 0037 GMT. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.1 per cent to $1,635.50.

The metal was down over 0.4 per cent for the week after an 8 per cent jump in the previous week

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.33 per cent to 971.97 tonnes on Thursday.

Palladium fell 0.8 per cent to $2,196.39 an ounce, platinum slipped 0.2 per cent to $725.52 and silver declined 0.8 per cent to $14.42. All three metals were set to register a weekly loss.