Dubai: Gold prices dropped again on Thursday as the bullion took a hit from the strengthening of the US dollar and profit taking by investors.
Retail rates in Dubai dropped as much as .50 fils per gram as of 2pm, with 24-karat gold trading at Dh162.50, down from Dh163 on Wednesday’s close. The prices for 22K, 21K and 18K also declined to Dh152.75, Dh145.75 and Dh125 per gram, respectively.
In Asia trade, spot gold slipped 0.3 per cent to $1,343.61 an ounce at 0336 GMT, according to Reuters. The precious metal had earlier gone up as much as 1.3 per cent, hitting the week’s high of $1,357.17 an ounce following the decline in US dollar.
Investors are awaiting the latest data on US unemployment, expected to be out later on Thursday. Any signs of economic stability could put pressure on precious metal rates.
Karim Merchant, managing director and CEO of Pure Gold Jewellers, said gold's decline is a result of profit taking.
"Institutional investors had overbought over the last week and wanted to off load before the key unemployment data to be released today," Merchant told Gulf News.
Last Friday, the metal posted a 1 per cent decline following the jobs report from the United States. “The non-farm payrolls report significantly surprised to the upside for the second consecutive month, easing concerns over sluggish US growth,” said Warren Kreyzig, commodities research analyst at Julius Baer.
“Unless we see further deterioration in global growth, which is not our base case, we see more downside for gold and in particularly silver,” said Kreyzig. “We advise that portfolio investors refrain from adding gold as insurance at the current point in time.”
Gold Rate: To keep up to date with gold prices, go to our gold rate page
Currency Rate: To keep up to date with latest exchange rates, go to our currencies page.