Gold, Silver Prices Fall Today: Check 22K and 24K Rates In Your City On May 21

In the international market, spot gold was down 0.2% at $4,534.69 per ounce, as of 0258 GMT. Bullion gained more than 1% on Wednesday after falling to its lowest level since March 30 earlier in the day. US gold futures for June delivery were steady at $4,536.70.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday negotiations with Iran were in the final stages but warned of further attacks unless Iran agreed to a deal, adding that Washington could wait a few days to “get the right answers.”

Sentiment improved “after Trump’s remarks stating that both the US and Iran are kind of reaching the final stages of peace deal agreement,” said Kelvin Wong, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

However, “the overall trend of 10-year US Treasury yield since the start of early March is still in a medium-term uptrend phase. Hence, gold bulls may not be so aggressive of beating up prices at this juncture,” he said.

US 10-year Treasury yields rose 0.3%, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold. Gold has fallen more than 14% since the Iran war began in late February, as elevated oil prices fuelled inflation risks and fears of interest rates staying higher for longer. Non-yielding gold tends to benefit when interest rates are lower.

Markets are increasingly pricing in possibilities of the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy this year, with a 39% chance of a 25 basis-point hike expected in December, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Meanwhile, last week, PM Modi appealed to people to avoid buying gold for a year, in order to save forex reserves.

Following this, the government on Wednesday hiked import duty on gold and silver to 15 per cent to curb non-essential imports amid the West Asia crisis which has put pressure on forex reserves.

Effective May 13, import duty on gold and silver has been increased from 6 per cent to 15 per cent and that on platinum has been raised from 6.4 per cent to 15.4 per cent. Consequential changes have also been made to other items such as gold/silver dore, coins, findings, etc.

On May 16, the Centre has tightened import rules for certain categories of silver bars by changing their import status from “Free” to “Restricted” with immediate effect, in a move that comes amid rising concerns over India’s import bill, pressure on the rupee, and global uncertainty linked to the ongoing West Asia crisis.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, issued a notification on Saturday, amending the import policy for specific categories of silver covered under Chapter 71 of the Indian Trade Classification (ITC) Harmonised System (HS) 2022 import policy schedule.

Under the revised policy, import of silver bars — containing 99.9 per cent or more silver by weight (ITC HS Code 71069221) and ‘Bar—Other’ categories (ITC HS Code 71069229) — which were earlier freely importable subject to RBI regulations, will now be classified as “Restricted”.

Certain categories of silver imports have also been brought under Reserve Bank of India regulations.

What Factors Affect Gold Prices In India?