Dubai gold drops Dh2.75 per gram in one week

Dubai:  Gold continued to trade at lower levels in Dubai on Tuesday, as the US dollar remained firm against other currencies.

The precious metal has so far lost as much as Dh2.75 in value per gram in a little over a week, with 24-carat gold trading at Dh153.25 per gram, down from Sunday’s closing price (Dh156).

Other gold pieces were also trading at cheaper rates compared to last week, with 22K selling at Dh143.75 per gram and 21K and 18K trading at Dh137.25 and Dh117.75 per gram, respectively.

In Asia trade, spot gold stood at $1,264.53 an ounce by 1158 GMT. After hitting $1,300 an ounce last week, the bullion lost some value on Monday following the strengthening of the US dollar against the Japanese yen.

Some industry experts, however, are betting on the precious metal to regain some strength this year. ABN Amro, in its latest analysis, said it is expecting gold to climb to $1,300 an ounce next month and $1,370 an ounce by December.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM, attributed gold’s recent decline to a mixture of profit taking and dollar appreciation.

 “Although bears could be commended for their efforts, this commodity remains fundamentally bullish and could be poised to incline back towards $1305. Risk aversion remains rife while expectations over the Fed raising US rates have been buried away, a touch of dollar weakness could be the catalyst that sends gold prices back towards $1280 as the first key checkpoint,” Otunuga said.

“With today’s economic data calendar quite light, price action could whisk gold higher once a support has been formed. From a technical standpoint, bulls need to break back above the intraday $1268 resistance.”